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May 22, 2007

Chelsea flower show: Photos, feng shui flap, gnomelessness

London photographer Ollie O'Brien -- angryhaggis at Flickr -- volunteered at yesterday's press preview of London's Chelsea Flower Show. He took 55 photos on his lunch break, the largest collection I've found so far, including this "Fantasy House" garden.

London's five-day Chelsea Flower Show -- the Olympics of gardening hosted by the Royal Horticultural Society -- opens today, and already temperaments are flaring.

The London Times reports ('Wrong shui’ garden leads to bad vibes at flower show),

A garden designed to bring peace and harmony to the Chelsea Flower Show is at the centre of a row after accusations that it flouted basic principles of feng shui.

Three Chinese students complained about the Through the Moongate garden after being “shocked by serious flaws” and “some very bad feng shui”.

Officials from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), which runs the prestigious flower show, were investigating the claims yesterday.

The students said the design, believed to be the first Chinese garden at Chelsea, committed three serious offences against the principles of feng shui.

A statue of a dragon, a powerful symbol in Chinese culture, was facing north, rather than east.

The positioning of a carving of Buddha’s name close to the ground was regarded as disre-pectful – it should have been higher – and a statue supposedly of Buddha was in fact a representation of some other deity or person, the students said...

The Canadian-born designer Lesley Bremness was astounded by the complaints and struck back by branding her accusers ignorant.

She says the dragon couldn't both face north and protect the entrance, given their assigned site. And that those guys don't know their Buddha from their Quanyin, the goddess of mercy and compassion.

Next they'll be throwing flowers.

Saturday, The Times covered Chelsea's version of noxious weeds: Chelsea battles to root out gnomes:

Garden gnomes have, controversially, long been banned from the show on the ground that they are tacky and display poor taste. This year, however, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), which runs the show, suspects that several exhibitors have attempted to circumvent the spirit of the rule, if not the letter.
A bare-bottomed gnome was spotted in one exhibitor’s van and another was under investigation after bringing a statue of an Orc-like “gnome hunter”, complete with gnome heads dangling from its belt, and another statue of a gnome being attacked by a larger imaginary creature...

After an aside on naked-sculpture judging, the story continues,

... Mr Sweet (of the RHS) said that Russell Bowlby, of Flights of Fancy, another exhibitor, was suspected of attempting to introduce “gnome houses” into the show, which opens next week. “We’ve had some very, very serious conversations with this exhibitor. He said they were garden buildings. We suspected they were gnome houses – he’s assured us they aren’t. We had a suspicion they were going to be displayed with gnomes.
“We think garden gnomes are rather gaudy. We have artistic things and nice taste in this show. It’s just not suitable for gnomes.”

Mr Sweet’s suspicions deepened when the gnome was found in the front seat of Mr Bowlby’s van. Mr Bowlby insisted that the small-scale homes he will show are garden houses for children.

The funky Tudor house in the photo at the top of this item sure looks gnome-friendly to me.

Of course, the show has a budding blog.

(Garden editor Paula Constantine is there now; we'll see what she brings back.)

Posted by Sheila Lennon at 3:49 AM | Permalink

May 22, 2007

Chelsea flower show: Photos, feng shui flap, gnomelessness

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