For Chelsea Show 2010 I prepared a design that for the first time celebrates the links between plants and precious stones, Ace Of Diamonds was created. Many of the plants we used either have gemstones in their names or have flowers reminiscent of precious stones. To capture the imagination of the public visitors and of course attract the eye of the judges we held a special launch event for Press Day, a stunning Ace of Diamonds display garden with in excess of £20,000,000 million gems and precious stones.
Ace Of Diamonds - Chelsea Flower Show 2010
This garden alone eclipsed the total value of all the exhibits combined at the 2010 Chelsea Flower show and the total of the costs of last year’s show too!
Last year I had the RHS Judges in a quandary asking them to put themselves in the shoes of a Hell Angel whilst Judging the Garden the Ace of Spades. This year we asked them to put themselves in the shoes of Helen Mirren when judging The Ace of Diamonds. A task some said was their most challenging yet.
My thanks go to the Diamond supplier Leviev, the New Bond Street Jeweller to the Rich & Famous. Their International Diamond Expert Keith Gerrard MD of Leviev UK provided much appreciated consultancy on the project.
As well as giving access to the patio, the path represents the loop of a chain, when viewed from above, it looks like a necklace, with the central diamond-shaped patio forming a pendant. The raised seating area provides a place to relax and enjoy a view of the garden.
I included plants such as Hosta Diamond Tiara, Narcissus Diamond Ring, Potentilla Gold Finger, Vinca wojos jem, Euonymus Emerald and Azalea snow pearl plus many other Gem & precious metal named plants.
Plants that have inspired jewellery through the ages, such as Cirsium (the thistle) original Celtic jewellery, Erygium (sea holly) Solomon’s seal and many others. Plus plants such as Ladies Mantle that through minute hairs on the leaf add surface tension to hold water droplets that look like diamonds.
The mulch was formed from glass cut diamonds and diamond shards of metallic compounds.
Me with the Duke of Edinburgh at Chelsea
The garden walls had £100,000 worth of semi precious stone cut from rock face and back lit to show the effect of Amethyst and Quartz. I was supported by Chiltern Marble who engineered the the infrastructure to hold these items upright, a test of engineering unprecedented at Chelsea.
Another of the special features we added was to add lighting to defy daylight and ad luminosity to an outdoor environment to compete with nature’s ambient light level and give rainbow refraction through diamonds.
I hope you saw the garden and look forward to presenting you with another stunning garden design in 2011
