Chelsea Preview

central zone. This accentuates their finest feature, a brush of bright gold stamens attached to a red-ringed disc. Finally, Rosa Susan Williams-Ellis is the

realisation of something that has long been on gardeners! wish lists! a rose that! s beautiful, small, strong, scented and white. An exceptionally hardy and long-flowering shrub to about 4ft tall, its clusters of snowy, sweetly perfumed blooms contrast with gleaming dark green leaves. Crêpe-like and closely layered, the petals give the flowers the appearance of miniature double peonies. This outstanding new variety com- memorates the founder, a half-century ago this year, of Portmeirion Potteries, and the designer of the firm! s famous rose motif.

!Jardin de Luxembourg!s exhibit is a glimpse

into one of the world! s oldest and greatest orchid houses!

Since last year! s show, much has been

revealed about the horticultural habits of politicians. The discovery that some of our legislators were such devoted gardeners might have been a vote winner, had we not been asked to pay for their pleasures. It comes as no surprise that they arrange things differently in the country that put the tumbril at the heart of the political process. What is surprising is just how differently. For the past 150 years, France! s senators have been able to enjoy their very own private orchid collection. Housed at the Palais du Luxembourg,

the collection comprises more than 10,000 plants in 150 genera. It! s notably strong

on the Laurent Perrier Garden by Tom Stuart-Smith [MA20], with a florist! s tapestry of white flowers, woodland grasses, euphor-

bias and Iris sibirica.

Up from Cornwall

Burncoose Nurseries [GPF11] creates

an indoor Voyages of Discovery garden

of plant-hunters and the plants that found their way to Cornwall. And the same county! s Eden Project [TR1] brings a large show garden

eerily echoing present concerns of coalition and compromise in Places of Change, presenting ! a series of achievements and aspirations built around the people who are least likely

116 Country Life, May 19, 2010

Left David Austin! s new Rosa Princess Anne celebrates 40 years of her patronage of Riding for the Disabled. Right Hillier Nurseries! s Philadelphus maculatus Sweet Clare is a hardy selection of a Mexican species with a powerful fragrance

on natives of France! s former colonies, among them 60 species and 540 cultivars in the genus Paphiopedilum. Pet-named Sabots de Vénus (Venus! s shoes) with almost fetishistic indulgence, these tropical Asian slipper orchids are the senators! favourites. There are also remarkable rarities from the jungles of French Guiana: if only Steve McQueen had been an orchidophile, Papillon would have been softer than Porridge. As for les citoyens, they get to see the collection for a few days each year. But they don! t complain. Unlike the artifacts jealously guarded by parliaments elsewhere, at least the senate! s orchids are used for scientific research, breeding work, and conservation. To mark their collection! s 150th anni-

versary, the senators have sent the pick of their plants to Chelsea. The Jardin du Luxembourg exhibit (GPD7) is a unique

to be heard and most likely to surprise us! . Sure to be a hit with Lib Dem supporters.

Wild things

Taking up the banner of the United Nations! International Year of Biodiversity, the Royal Horticultural Society! s own focus for the show is on ! gardens as Britain! s biggest wildlife reserve! (right) as habitat for plants, fungi and insects (left)! a theme that has been widely adopted by exhibitors. Estate agents Strutt & Parker have joined

forces with the Scottish Agricultural College

to bring a Sustainable Highland garden

[RM13], ! with nods to the current cause célèbres of sustainability and renewable energy [to] show the harnessing of nature without

glimpse into one of the world! s oldest and greatest orchid houses. A hybrid of rain- forest and Belle EPoque conservatory, it evokes both the romance of the era of elite plant-collecting and the realities of conserving species whose forest habitats are being felled by the minute. So far as France! s parliamentarians are concerned, these orchids are national treasures and an international resource. If our lot had claimed for this kind of horticulture, I, for one, would not have begrudged them.

This year! s Chelsea Flower Show takes place on May 25! 28, 8am! 8pm, and May 29, 8am! 5.30pm (show sell-off 4pm), at Royal Hospital Road, London SW3. All tickets must be booked in advance. There are no sales on the day. For further details, telephone 0844 338 7524 or visit www.rhs.org.uk

impacting heavily upon it! . It! s planted entirely with Scottish natives, with the water rill and inbuilt insect homes providing ideal conditions for birds and insects, including the bees from the croft! s hive. The Global Stone Bee

Friendly Plants garden [RM15] looks

at the serious plight of honeybees, whose numbers have been decimated by intensive farming, increasing urbanisation, parasitic varroa mite and Colony Collapse Disorder. Its planting includes bee magnets such as salvias, Agastache, sedums and red clover. KBH

www.countrylife.co.uk

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