Few gardens can have been designed with the help of a dog; still less for a show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Read on for that story!
First, I was delighted recently to speak to regular reader and keen bird watcher Mike Kirtley. Mike had just seen my feature about the dawn chorus (published on 1 May) and told me that he’d just enjoyed an early morning nature and birding walk around the meadows at Heather Farm to drink in the dawn chorus.
While there they saw 39 different bird species. I must here admit again that I’m not a bird watcher, just interested in “all things nature”, but that sounds a very impressive tally!
Mike also related his visit to Witley Common that same week, when his aim was to see nightingales. He said: “Witley and Milford Commons are now sadly one of the few places in Surrey where nightingales can be reliably seen. They are hard to see as they prefer dense scrub but, although I didn’t see one this time, it was a pleasure to listen for some time to their glorious and varied song repertoire.”
If only we could report “a nightingale singing in Victoria Square”!
This year, for the first time, a dog has helped design a show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show: Monty Don’s beloved golden retriever, Ned, played a key role in the creation of his owner’s RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden while it was being designed at a nursery near Woking.
It will be the first time Monty has designed a garden for the world-famous flower show.
Monty Don’s affection for dogs is well known to viewers of the BBC TV Gardener’ World show, on which he is lead presenter. While Monty may get top billing, his golden retriever Ned is always present in the background while Monty provides gardening tips at his Longmeadow garden.
Monty is creating the owner’s RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden with a local nursery, Form Plants, led by Plant Expert and Horticulturist Jamie Butterworth.
Jamie laid out the design at his nursery before Ned was brought to Surrey to randomly run through pots and plants to create the paths that will feature in the final design. Ned’s paw-work will ensure dogs are integral to the design and highlights the relationship between dogs and gardens.
Jamie explained: “To keep the garden as authentic as possible, Monty enlisted the help of Ned to design the paths that intersect through the planting. Ned followed his nose and forged the routes that we will now copy at the show.
“We had imagined Ned would create sweeps and curves through the planting. However, every time Ned ran off, he returned to Monty via the same route, so we have changed the designs accordingly.
“So Ned actually designed not just part of the garden, but possibly the most detailed and complex aspect.”
Monty says he wants the garden to be both a model of all the things that dogs love, regardless of horticultural fashion, and a beautiful space that any dog owner would love.
As we are famously a nation both of gardeners and dog lovers, it’s wonderful that Ned – with Monty and James, of course – is creating a garden that will hopefully inspire people to create their own green havens for them and their pets!