The 101st Chelsea flower show opens its doors

The 101st RHS Chelsea flower show formally opens its doors to the public today with the promise of a host of spectacular show gardens and floral displays.

While there’s no Irish garden designer amongst those competing for a medal this year, the Irish ‘integrated utility provider’, Bórd na Mona has a presence on the main avenue where it is the sponsor of a show garden designed by two talented young Welsh men, brothers Harry and David Rich.

Entitled Vital Earth. The Night Garden and inspired by the tranquil beauty of the night sky, the garden aims to raise awareness of light pollution in our towns and cities.

The Bórd na Mona garden is just one of fifteen gardens competing for a gold medal and the highly-coveted ‘Best in Show’ in the prestigious ‘Show Garden’ category this year.

Amongst those considered to be frontrunners are the M&G Investments Persian-inspired garden by English designer Cleve West - a four times gold medal winner - and the elegant Laurent Perrier garden by the London-based Italian designer, Luciano Giubbilei.

Another serious contender is the Cloudy Bay garden, designed by the landscape architect duo, Gavin McWilliam and Andrew Wilson - the latter is a regular assessor at RHS shows and a judge at Ireland’s Bloom show, which opens at the end of this week. Judging of the Chelsea show gardens takes place today, with awards being announced tomorrow morning.

Aside from the Bórd na Mona garden, the other Irish hope of a medal rests with the north County Dublin-based floral designer Christopher White.

Last year White won bronze as part of a display created by the Naul Garden & Flower Club but this year he's going solo with a 2.5 metre tall floral design entitled Twist & Turn. White will spend all of Wednesday night installing his creation in Chelsea's floral art marquis but will have to wait until Thursday morning to discover if he's struck gold.