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plasticine garden
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Message 1.Â
Posted by wondrousdawnygs (U13973425) on Monday, 18th May 2009
is it just me or does anyone else think that Alan Titchmarsh is a "gardening snob". I thought his remarks to James Mates about his plasticine garden were snidey and uncalled for!!....ok, so they weren't real flowers but they still took a lot of work and they make for a refreshing change to the often twee, staged show gardens that can sometimes dominate Chelsea. It wasn't done to denegrade the huge effort put in by the other exhibitors, just to offer an alternative. I thought it was fun!
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Message 2
Posted by Gordillo (U13973468) on Monday, 18th May 2009
I agree - I found Alan to be very condescending. I thought it quite bizarre that he tried to turn James' garden into an attack on 'real' plant growers.
Weird. -
Message 3
Posted by alterego2 (U2832721) on Monday, 18th May 2009
"I thought it was fun!"
SO were the Teletubbies: they also had nothing to do with gardening but at least they weren't on a gardening show.
If the plasticine 'garden' wins an award, then it demonstrates that the RHS has regressed to media led gimmickry. -
Message 4
Posted by David K (U2221642) on Monday, 18th May 2009
Well, I suppose someone who is as dedicated to his profession as AT, is unlikely to be bowled over by this garden.
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Message 5
Posted by Paul N (U6451125) on Monday, 18th May 2009
No, Alan Titchmarsh is not a gardening snob and I think it is you. He is much liked and sorely missed. It's also James May not Mates.
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Message 6
Posted by Helen May (U1633128) on Monday, 18th May 2009
thought it was fun!"
SO were the Teletubbies: they also had nothing to do with gardening but at least they weren't on a gardening show.Â
Quite! I'm hardly surprised at Alan's comments as just what has it to do with gardening?
H -
Message 7
Posted by pensivepansy (U11060423) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
The fact that James May's garden got through the selection criteria for the RHS says something. I heard him on the radio yesterday and he hinted that he was trying to stimulate a debate about what a garden should be, hence the path shaped like a question mark.
I don't think he was suggesting we should rip up our borders in favour of Plasticine but perhaps we should think about what a garden really is?
It wasn't my favourite but it was better than the bikers garden!! -
Message 8
Posted by Pete-Free (U7363826) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
The Medal List is on the RHS site this morning (Tues). Longing to know what the "Special Letter" James May has received from the RHS says!
Hope they'll tell us on the lunchtime programme today. -
Message 9
Posted by mutebuttondelight (U3517782) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
No, AT is not a 'gardening snob'I think he's an extremely knowledgeable gardener who has an obvious love of all things plants and has that rare gift of passing along that love and knowledge without being condecending or over-enthusiastic. Indeed I thought he was asking some very pointed and relevant questions in a very diplomatic way. James May's 'garden' (I use the term loosely here) has no place at Chelsea. It isn't 'an alternative' it's derisory and 'taking the ****'
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Message 10
Posted by kath74 (U8999103) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
I beleive they've given him a plasticine medal.
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Message 11
Posted by TheHejhog (U7657776) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
I thought AT came across as very condescending; a gardening snob. Why should James May grow sweet peas? His garden is a bit of fun and it involved thousands of people (children) to make it.
A garden is literally a fenced in area. Per definition a garden therefore only needs to have a fence.
Over the years some have developed the idea that gardens should contain a certain number of items, such as borders with flowers (sweet pea, perhaps), a lawn, shrubs, bushes and a tastefully placed sculpture or gnome. Why?
A garden can consist entirely of rocks and gravel and not contain any plants at all...
Hejhog -
Message 12
Posted by flipper (U5566714) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
I liked James May's garden. Ok, so it wasn't ever going to win a medal in a flower show, but as Alan acknowledged, isn't it part of a bigger project looking at the range of toys and games available to children?
I also think it's a great way to encourage people to see the beautiful forms and variety of shapes of flowers and plants, thus potentially stimulating an interest in growing or admiring the real thing. -
Message 13
Posted by pinktequila (U2803141) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
I didn't see anything condescending at all in their conversation.
Why should James May grow sweet peas? Obvious, everybody should they are really ace flowers. -
Message 14
Posted by Dame Wombat (U2332024) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
SO were the Teletubbies: they also had nothing to do with gardeningÂ
I don't know why you think that; the Teletubbies are at the very forefront of garden design. Have you never seen a Diarmuid Gavin show garden? -
Message 15
Posted by Obelixx (U2157162) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
I didn't find Alan condescending either and whilst it's all very well to get 12yr olds involved in creating plasticine flowers I prefer the schools projects that get kids involved in growing veg and making wildlife reserves.
I don't think James May was taking it that seriously either. He freely admitted it was an idea that came to him over a pint or three. It looks like he and his team had fun from conception to completion but it's never going to be a serious design and function statement about gardens is it?
I wish as much fuss attention was being paid to the row of front gardens and the aesthetically and environmentally sound alternatives to concreting over to provide a car park. -
Message 16
Posted by TheHejhog (U7657776) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
I wish as much fuss attention was being paid to the row of front gardens and the aesthetically and environmentally sound alternatives to concreting over to provide a car park.Â
Indeed. About the same time that we ripped up the concrete at the front and turned it into a garden again, the OAP neighbour 2 doors down dug up all her plants and put in a concentric design of coloured concrete bricks. It is surrounded by an ornamental spiky fence. I call it the prisoner's yard.
Hejhog -
Message 17
Posted by Trillium (U2170869) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
I'm at the show and been past the plasticine garden a good few times - I'm standing next to it now. The attention to detail has everyone entranced, from the pollen, the insects, the leaf markings etc. Overwhelmingly visitors are amused and impressed by the creativity. The RHS have entered into the spirit, awarding it a plasticine gold medal which the judges made this morning.
Some comments from around me:
'it's extraodinary... Rather fun...look at the gargoyle...I thought I'd hate it...that smell!...it's garish...look, there's a mole in the lawn..wow..well it's different... Not very Chelsea..I have to get a photo for my son...will it melt in the sun?"
And believe it or not there's a real bee taking an interest. -
Message 18
Posted by alterego2 (U2832721) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
One suspects that the real reason it is there is simply that the RHS is very short of gardens this year because of the economic conditions, and needed to fill the space up somehow.
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Message 19
Posted by Joe_the_Gardener (U3478064) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
Did James turn up in Noddy's car?
Joe -
Message 20
Posted by Dame Wombat (U2332024) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
I think it is lovely that plasticine gardening has finally made it to such a prestigious event as Chelsea.
Up here in the north we've been doing it for years:
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Message 21
Posted by Joe_the_Gardener (U3478064) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
My word, that's a big one, Gromit!
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Message 22
Posted by hdehoon (U2175617) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
I think Alan´s outrage was genuine; not because he is a snob but because he simply likes living thinks, not plastic.
Having said that, I think the platicine garden was great fun. It deserves a plastcine medal! -
Message 23
Posted by nooj (U13729031) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
Hi Rock.
you are right again.
Northerners are so innovative - and we know a lot about cheese (and giant vegetables unfortunately/fortunately) -
Message 24
Posted by Gilly41 (U4235472) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
I didn't think Alan was at all condescending either ..... I think he poked fun gently maybe ?
I actually liked it - not as a garden (obviously) but as a fun idea and a very clever piece of artwork ..... and if it encourages kids to use their imagination in play more often (instead of electronic gizmos) then great !
As to whether or not it should have been at Chelsea ? ....... hmmm, well, why not ? The RHS approved it, so they must have thought it a worthwhile idea, and it's not as if James May gatecrashed the event. I've never been to Chelsea, but have seen other sorts of art on display at other shows, eg. illustrations of plants and flowers. Could this not be considered a garden-related piece of art in the same way ?
I'm sure it hasn't detracted from the artistry, skill, vision and expertise in the real gardens and I doubt most visitors would be truly offended by it surely ?
(In any case, should anyone forget, James May has impeccable gardenining credentials ...... have you all forgotten Top Gear Ground Force when they (ahem ....) "landscaped" Steve Redgrave's garden ??!!) -
Message 25
Posted by pootles magnet (U11709665) on Tuesday, 19th May 2009
I'd rather see real flowers than plasticine ones, but from everything they've been saying on the TV coverage, there aren't as many show gardens as usual because of finances, so it doesn't sound as if James May pushed any 'real' exhibitors out. I'd definitely rather see plasticine flowers than an empty gap!
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Message 26
Posted by ReineMarge (U13928816) on Friday, 22nd May 2009
I absolutely love the plasticine 'garden'
I see it as art and a lovely beautiful gardenesque piece of art at that, done with humour and made by so many different people (I understand some Chelsea pensioners made the poppies).
The plasticine RHS gold medal is well deserved ... and shows the RHS can laugh at itself (though why they are so anti-gnome I don't know).
And as others have said, when you consider there are so called 'gardens' which are just filled with concrete, decking, steel etc. and maybe a few plants in pots, at least the plasticine looks like plants and flowers
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Message 27
Posted by the cycling gardener (U2350416) on Friday, 22nd May 2009
I really liked the plasticine garden and loved that James May had the nerve to go for it. It drew the crowds and was a bit of light relief from the intensity of it all.
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