Is it really such a bad thing that the Chelsea Flower Show has been postponed to the autumn because of Covid?
Yes, we’ll be missing out on the blousy, frothiness of early summer gardens that we see every year – not so many umbellifers, alliums or delphiniums – and yes, the Floral Pavilion will be strange without the heady scent of roses from the David Austin and Peter Beales stands. But the show will benefit enormously from a shake-up that forces designers to stop using the plants listed above until it seems there is nothing else you could possibly grow in your garden.
Every year, a presenter or commentator gushes about how ‘on trend’ foxgloves are now, as though it’s a strange coincidence that they flower around the same time as the show, rather than being bankers for a designer hoping everything will come together.
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