Chelsea Flower Show. Best in Show!!

I had a really wonderful day at the show yesterday, and enjoyed photographing all the gardens. I took 498 photos in all....thank goodness for digital. What would that have cost in film and prints?

The overall show winner was the Laurent-Perrier Garden, designed by Tom Stuart-Smith. It was so tranquil. The RHS website

description of the garden says " The Laurent-Perrier Garden is designed as a contemplative space with a dreamy and slightly surreal character. It is a garden of elegant understatement based on the idea of juxtaposing opposites.
The build elements of the garden are made entirely of brick-shaped objects, orientated in one direction, while the planting is in a seemingly random pattern.
The layout of the garden is made by overlaying a number of separate patterns.
A grove of 30-year-old hornbeams extends over the garden. The trees are pruned so that the foliage forms a number of rounded ‘clouds’, which seem to float in mid air. This grove is dissected by a pattern of paths made from traditional Flemish bricks that are laid over the garden like a net. The paths eventually lead to a terrace at the back of the garden to a seating area.
A third element of the design is a number of zinc tanks, which are placed throughout the garden. Designed by Andrew Ewing, they brim with water and appear to overflow. Zinc is also used in large panels to form the rear wall of the garden. The metal was chosen because it can be used to make precisely detailed features and has a beautiful patina, and the cool blue-grey colouring suits the contemplative green garden.
The fourth element of the design is the herbaceous planting, which forms an undulating tapestry throughout the garden. The colour palette is predominantly green, and key plants include Rodgersia, Molinia, Epimedium, Asarum, Hosta ‘Devon Green’ and Astrantia. The planting is designed to be calm and poised, with an emphasis on form and texture, rather than colour. "

I found it quite difficult to choose which of my photos to use because so many of them made the zinc water holders look like coffins!

This picture shows a little more of the garden that I hadn't noticed on the TV coverage...the round balls of clipped box (?) at the back of the garden....perfect!

And the cloud pruned hornbeams were, as many people have already said, inspired.

Here is a list of the plants used (the handout we were given explained that they all prefer moisture retentive soil in sun and semi-shade....

 Cloud pruned hornbeam
 Taxus hedging (2.2m high)
 Osmanthus heterohpyllus
 Alchemilla erythropoda
 Asarum europeaum
 Astrantia major subsp. involucrata
‘Shaggy’
 Darmera peltata
 Dryopteris filix-mas or D. wallichiana
 Epimedium × youngianum ‘Niveum’
 Epimedium × rubrum
 Euphorbia palustris
 Euphorbia wallichii
 Geranium phaeum ‘Album’
 Gillenia trifoliata
 Hakonechloa macra
 Hosta ‘Devon Green’
 Kirengeshoma palmata
 Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea
‘Transparent’
 Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea
‘Fontane’
 Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea
‘Windspl’ (for foliage only)
 Molinia caerulea subsp. arundinacea
‘Strahlenquelle’ (for foliage only)
 Paeonia lactiflora ‘Jan van Leeuwen’
 Paeonia lactiflora ‘White Wings’
 Peaonia lactiflora ‘Krinkled White’
 Rodgersia podophylla ‘Rotlaub’
 Selaginella helvetica
 Selinum wallichianum
 Tellima grandiflora
 Digitalis purpurea f. albiflora
 Buxus sempervirens