Amateur Gardening – 21 May 2019

26 AMATEURGARDENING 11 MAY 2019

M

Yfirstexperienceof RHS

ChelseaFlowerShowwas

asan18-year-oldstudentin

theearly1990s.Alongwith

myfellowstudents,I createda displayin

theGreatPavilionforSparsholtCollege

in Hampshire.Beingontheshowground

duringthebuild-upanddismantlingin

thedarkwasanexperiencelikeno

other,andthiswasthestartof a

passionateloveaffairwiththemost

impressiveshowin theworld.

SincemyfirstinvolvementatRHS

Chelsea,I’veattendednearlyevery

yearsince.Theshowis soalivewith

ideasthatformeit’sthegardening

equivalenttobeingin WillyWonka’s

ChocolateFactory.I havealsobeen

oneoftheluckyoneswhohasattended

ona regularbasisontheMondayPress

Day,butneverfora momentdidI think

thatI wouldbecomea judge.

Then,fiveyearsago,I was

approachedbytheRHSforsucha role.

However,it wasn’tuntillastyearthatI

wasgiventheofficialstatusofa judge.

OverthepastfewyearsI havebeen

ontrainingdaysandshadowedvery

experiencedjudges.There’sa lotto

learnandtheRHSneedstobesureyou

haveallthequalities they require for this

seriousrole.

Judgesaretrainedfora specific

judging role, and if you are trained as a

Gardenjudgeyouwillbegiveneitherthe

ArtisangardensortheShowGardens

to judge– youdon’tgetto choose.For

example,judgesfortheGreatPavilion,

newproductof theyearandtrade stands

arecompletelyseparate.

Thewealthofexperienceand

knowledgewithinthejudgingteam

is incredible.I’veworkedwithworld-

renowneddesigners,plantsmen,

landscapersandgardeners.Within

eachteamthere’sanexpertin every

field.Authoritiesin planthealth,design,

constructionandplantingarealways

included in a judging team.

Two-dayprocess

TheRHSjudgingteamdecideswhether

youaretobeanassessingjudge,a

judgeora moderatorata show.There

arethreestagestothejudgingprocess.

Thefirstinvolvestheassessingjudges

ontheSaturdaybeforeRHSChelsea.

Theyheara two-minutepresentation

fromthedesignerandthentheteamof

threelookoverthegarden,andusethe

criteriaandthebrieftocomeupwith a

scoreandsuggestedmedal.

Thesecondstageinvolvesfour

judgesandthesamethreeassessors

andtakesplaceontheSunday.Theywill

alsobejoinedbya moderator.Gardens

canlosemarksif theypromisetodeliver

one thing in the brief, which will have

beensubmittedwellin advanceofthe

show,butfailtobringthatpromiseto

thecompletedgarden.Thismayexplain

whya gardenthatlooksincredibletothe

publicmaynotreceivea GoldMedal.For

example,if a designerhasplannedto

havea silverbirchtree,butchanges it to

a malus, points are deducted.

Meetingthebrief

Gardenswillalsolosemarksif the

constructionis poor,andnotallaspects

ofconstructionareeasytoseeasa

visitor.Thebriefincludesa description

ofthegarden,thepurposeofthe

garden,thefunctionofthegarden,

andkeyplantsandfeatures.

Aswellasmeetingthebrief,there

area numberofothercriteriaforwhich

thejudgesgivemarks.Thecriteriaare:

ambition– howoriginalis thedesign,

andis theretheatre,flair,atmosphere

andimpact?Overallimpression– does

thegardenworkasa wholeandhow

fineis thefinishandattentiontodetail?

Design– doesthegardenworkforits

supposedpurpose?Construction– how

goodis thequalityofthebuilt?Planting

• colour,impact,composition,health
  andwouldtheplantsliveandsurvive
  together?Thejudgesgivethefollowing
  marks:excellent(4 points),verygood
  (3 points),good(2points),poor (1 point),
  unsatisfactory (0 points).

Judgesatthe 2014 RHSChelseaFlowerShowdiscussing

TheTelegraph’scontemporaryItaliangarden, which

was eventually awarded a Gold Medal

WithRHSChelseaFlowerShowfastapproaching,judgeTamsinWesthorpe

explains what’s involved in the very thorough judging process of the Gardens

Here comes the judge...