Today is the first of two judgement days at the Chelsea Flower Show. Nothing more can be done apart from wait for the results, and pay a visit when it’s open to the public next week (if you managed to get a ticket).
For those who can’t come along, here are some photos of the almost-finished garden, taken yesterday (Saturday 19 May) by Linda Grove. The full set is on her Flickr account.
1: A rare glimpse of blue sky. That memorial bench still needs a bit of work though. This was taken at the start of the last day before judging.
2: A pathway of buttons from military uniforms, and threatening-looking bits of rusted metal, pushes through the undergrowth at the foot of the watch-tower.
3: Some of the details will never be seen by visitors. Here is a discarded drinks can and string, up inside the crow’s nest of the watch-tower.
4: The garden is as much an art installation as it is an amazing horticultural achievement. Here a rusty mess-tin hangs from a shrub.
5: Message in a bottle: the barbed wire fence is decorated by bottles and tins containing letters from families and friends separated by the war.
6: All over now – apart from that very labour-intensive bench.
7: And a reminder of how far things have come in little more than two weeks. Here’s the building site on the first day of construction – though it looks like Diarmuid Gavin’s Westland Magical Garden (in the background) has had a head-start (image provided by Hwang Jihae).
Don’t forget to watch coverage of the show on the BBC, all next week. I’m sure you’ll get more than a glimpse of the DMZ Garden.
Fingers crossed for Judgement Day!
Links:
- LKL’s complete coverage of Hwang Jihae’s gardens at Chelsea 2012 and 2011
- Quiet Time: DMZ Forbidden Garden on Facebook. Please donate using the Paypal sign.