RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2012 Award Winners Announced

The Brewin Dolphin Garden, designed by Cleve West, wins Best in Show.

The award and medal winners at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2012, sponsored by M&G Investments, have been announced.

Bob Sweet, Head of Shows Development of RHS Chelsea Flower Show, said: “As the world’s most famous flower show, our awards celebrate best in class gardens, designers and horticulture.

“We have been delighted to see an abundance of impressive, ambitious and diverse gardens in each category. Our designers have continued to push the boundaries of horticultural design and set trends which will filter out into the wider gardening landscape.”

In the Show Gardens category nine Gold medals were awarded to gardens including: Andy Sturgeon’s garden for show sponsor M&G Investments; Sarah Price’s garden for The Daily Telegraph, whose garden won Best in Show in 2011; the Quiet Time: DMZ Forbidden Garden, designed by Jihae Hwang, which has been created to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Korean War; and the The Brewin Dolphin Garden, designed by Cleve West, which celebrates the 250th anniversary of Brewin Dolphin and the continuing popularity of topiary. This garden also won Best in Show in the category.

Five Silver-Gilt Floras were also awarded in the category, with winners including Diarmuid Gavin’s dramatic Westland Magical Garden; The Arthritis Research UK Garden; and Trailfinders Australian Garden presented by Fleming’s Nurseries. The judges also awarded Diarmuid Gavin’s Westland Magical Garden an award for Most Creative Show Garden.

In the new Fresh Gardens category judges awarded one Gold, two Silver-Gilt Flora, two Silver Flora and four Bronze Flora medals. The Gold award was given to Easigrass – The Artificial Grass Company for Green with… The garden also won Best in Show in the category. Both The Renault Garden by Renault UK and The Soft Machine by Humko Bled won Silver Gilt, and the latter was also awarded a prize for the Most Creative Fresh Garden.

Satoyama Life by Ishihara Kazuyuri Design Laboratory took Best in Show in the Artisan Gardens category. In total two Gold, two Silver-Gilt Flora, and four Silver Flora medals were awarded.

In RHS Environment, Sparsholt College from Hampshire won Gold and Best Exhibit in the category. In total, two Gold, three Silver-Gilt Lindley, four Silver Lindley, and two Bronze Lindley medals were awarded.

In the Great Pavilion, a new award was presented for the best floral exhibit: the Diamond Jubilee Award was presented to HW Hyde & Sons by HM The Queen, Royal Patron of RHS Chelsea Flower Show, during her annual visit to the show. Out of 108 winning exhibitors, 55 Gold, 34 Silver-Gilt Flora, two Silver-Gilt Grenfell, one Silver-Gilt Lindley, 13 Silver Flora and three Bronze Flora medals were awarded.

Winner of this year’s RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year 2012 award was the tropical-looking Digitalis Illumination Pink ('Tmdgfp001'), bred by Thompson & Morgan, and appearing in one of this year’s Generation Gardens. The nearly impossible cross of the Digitalis (Isoplexis) canarienses with the hardiness of Digitalis purpurea resulted in a spectacular tropical looking foxglove, a bee magnet with non-stop flowering for the six months of summer. Second place winner was the Dianthus Memories ('WP11 Gwe04') from Whetman Pinks, with its white flowers and exceptionally strong spicy perfume, and in third place was Hyacinthus orientalis 'Royal Navy' from J S Pennings "De Bilt", and its deep blue flowers with double florets.

Winner of this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show Garden Product of the Year 2012 Award was the Harrod Slot&Lock™ Framework Building System by Harrod Horticultural. The product was designed and developed in the UK by Harrod Horticultural as a result of their customers’ frustration with supporting framework falling to pieces and ruining their flowers and vegetables. With this system, aluminium tubing simply slots into the sockets in a range of plastic connectors which can then be locked into position with a stainless steel screw. This product is the answer to the problems associated with building framework for protection netting and supporting plants.

Every year, members of the public are able to vote for their favourite garden, with the winner being awarded the People's Choice Awards. People can vote for their favourite gardens online at www.rhs.org.uk/Shows-Events/RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show/2012/Gardens/People-s-choice . Voting closes at closes at 4pm on Friday 25th May and the winners will be announced on the morning of Saturday 26th May.

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