Chelsea Flower Show announces winners of amateur gardener competition
Chelsea Flower Show announces winners of its competition for amateur gardeners including advertising executive, 62, who wowed judges with his perfectly-crafted shrubs and hedges
- Nearly 8,000 people entered the society’s ‘My Chelsea Garden’ competition
- Prize for best back garden went to former advertising executive Terry Winters
- 62-year-old, from Wiltshire, said he’s ‘lucky’ to have a garden when many don’t
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
The Chelsea Flower Show is usually a glamorous event which is watched by millions, with its prizes won by Britain’s best professional horticulturalists.
But after the coronavirus lockdown forced the Royal Horticultural Society to cancel the event, the chance for green-fingered fame fell on Britain’s amateur gardeners.
Nearly 8,000 people entered the society’s ‘My Chelsea Garden’ competition, which was run jointly by the BBC.
The competition’s winners were announced on the BBC’s One Show on Friday evening.
The prize for best back garden went to former advertising executive Terry Winters, 62, from Salisbury, Wilshire, for his perfectly-crafted hedges, shrubs and colourful flowers.
After the coronavirus lockdown forced the Royal Horticultural Society to cancel the Chelsea Flower Show, the organisation held the ‘My Chelsea Garden’ competition. The prize for best back garden went to former advertising executive Terry Winters, 62, from Wiltshire
His perfectly-crafted hedges, shrubs and colourful flowers wowed the competition’s judges who included Alex Jones, the presenter of the BBC’s One Show, Daily Mail columnist and Gardener’s World presenter Monty Don and the RHS’s head of shows James Alexander Sinclair
Mr Winters, pictured on The One Show, said: ‘I’m lucky to have a garden, many don’t. I am even luckier in that I have created my garden from what was a blank canvas back in 2011’
The competition’s judges included BBC One Show presenter Alex Jones, Daily Mail columnist and Gardener’s World presenter Monty Don and the RHS’s head of shows James Alexander Sinclair.
Mr Winters said: ‘I’m lucky to have a garden, many don’t. I am even luckier in that I have created my garden from what was a blank canvas back in 2011.
‘It is a personal space, one to escape life’s pressures and experience the changing seasons.
‘It connects me to nature and allows me to be creative and keep fit without the need of a gym. It’s a shared space as my wife also is a keen gardener.
‘And it’s a productive space as we grow our own fruit and veg. Most of all it’s a special place – to me anyway,’ he added.
Pictured: Mr Winters’ garden in 2011, before he transformed it into a prize-winning green space
The winner of the best indoor garden was Corinne Tokley-Packer, 36, from Tilbury. Her living room was transformed into a domestic oasis, with potted plants seen hanging from the walls and sitting on every available surface
The mother-of-two has an incurable auto-immune disease and regarded as being at high risk amid the coronavirus pandemic
Judge Sue Biggs, the director general of the RHS, said: ‘What the garden meant to Terry was an example of so many people who are looking for an escape from life’s pressures at this this difficult time.
‘He talks about the garden as a shared space with his wife, as an escape from those pressures, and to me that was lovely.’
The winner of the best indoor garden was Corinne Tokley-Packer, 36, from Tilbury.
Her living room was transformed into a domestic oasis, with potted plants seen hanging from the walls and sitting on every available surface.
The mother-of-two has an incurable auto-immune disease and is regarded as being at high risk amid the coronavirus pandemic.
It means she has been ‘shielding’ at home and said her plants are ‘therapy’ for her.
She said: ‘My houseplants are helping me tremendously at the moment, unfortunately I have an incurable auto immune disease so I am currently on the high risk shielded list.
The winner of the best children’s garden went to Henry Shepherd, 7, from Barnsley, and his mother Clare
‘My plants are therapy for me. My plants proved a peaceful and tranquil environment, they keep me occupied I am constantly taking cuttings, I love watching them grow and I’m constantly learning.
‘I have always owned houseplants but my collection grew around five years ago, I was very poorly and was suffering with constant infection that left me housebound, I really missed the garden so we brought the outside in.
‘I have around 150 houseplants at the moment I love each one.’
The mother added that she has even named her plants. One fern goes by the name of Fernando.
The winner of the best children’s garden went to Henry Shepherd, 7, from Barnsley, and his mother Clare.
He is pictured sitting in his impressive garden, which boasts a host of well-kept plants, as well as two bird boxes.
He said he designed his garden so he could walk through it and sit down with the plants surrounding him.
And the best front garden prize went to Rosemary Fletcher from Dunstable. She said her garden (pictured) keeps her busy ‘weeding, watering, sweeping, propping up, feeding, cutting and shaping.’
‘I made bug houses with my grandad last year and I have built more bug houses using bits of sticks and old drain pipe I found,’ he added.
‘I wanted to make a tiny pond for visiting animals, I also have a bowl with water in for our hedgehog that visits the garden.’
Monty Don said: ‘It was an utterly charming picture and an utterly charming story. And as you know I am a sucker for charm.’
And the best front garden prize went to Rosemary Fletcher from Dunstable.
She said her garden keeps her busy ‘weeding, watering, sweeping, propping up, feeding, cutting and shaping.’
She added that the garden is ‘always a source of conversation’ for people who walk past her home.
‘It is a welcoming space for all who come through the gate as well as a private place to be quiet and still,’ Ms Fletcher said.
The winners will each receive four tickets for the Chelsea Flower Show in 2021 and will be sent a special award.
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