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Chelsea winner grows his own ingredients for scent of Good Queen Bess
Ellen Widdup19 May 2009
When Laurie Chetwood discovered a 400-year-old recipe for a perfume worn by Queen Elizabeth I, he spent a year growing the ingredients.
With his friend Patrick Collins, he grew a garden filled with the roses, lavender and ferns required for the special scent. Today his efforts paid off when he won the most creative award at the Chelsea Flower Show. “I'm absolutely delighted,” he said. “This has been a labour of love for Patrick and I and it's wonderful to be recognised for our efforts.”
The recipe, discovered in a book at the Royal Horticultural Society library, said: “Take eight grains of musk and put in rosewater eight spoonfuls. Three spoonfuls of damask water and a quarter of an ounce of sugar. Boil for five hours and strain.”
Mr Chetwood said musk, which originates from deer, is now made synthetically, but all other ingredients had been grown in his plot. We didn't think it would be appropriate to string deer carcasses from a tree but aside from that, it is the real deal, exactly as it would have been for Elizabeth I.”
The gardeners are selling perfume made from the flowers, with profits going to the RHS charity and Solar Aid, a charity which supplies energy to third-world countries. There was an emphasis on green issues this year. Winner of the best urban garden went to Helios, whose eco-chic site uses rubble left behind by building contractors.
Best in show went to the Daily Telegraph, which combined architecture and garden design. Sarah Eberle, best in show winner last year, won a silver award for her credit-crunch plot, which features an overdrawn artist's garden and the banker's garden.
James May's plasticine garden won a special letter in the urban gardener's category.
Laurent Perrier Champagne won a gold award in the show garden category for Luciano Giubbilebi, a first-time Chelsea designer who explored the relationship between architecture, art and nature by using traditional yew and hornbeam trees and hedges surrounded by pools of water.
The Childrens' Society won a gold in the urban garden category for a “back garden” based on a story of an “eco-family” who grow vegetables to teach their children about environmental issues.
A spokesman for the RHS said: “In such challenging times, our gardeners really pulled out all the stops to create a worldclass event. Tickets have sold out.” There are two more RHS shows this summer.
The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is 7-12 July; the RHS Show Tatton Park is 22-26 July. Tickets from www.rhs.org.uk/WhatOn/Events
Creeks to conifers, the eight winners
Best show garden
The Daily Telegraph
Designed by Swedish landscape architect Ulf Nordjell, the garden is a “fusion” of English cottage and “relaxed” Scandinavian influences. It includes a granite terrace and water creek
Most Creative Award
Laurie Chetwood and Patrick Collins
The Perfume Garden features clipped conifers which surround a stainless steel shroud “perfumery” where visitors can try a scent based on the one created for Elizabeth I. Every plant in the garden is used to create the 400-year-old recipe
Best Courtyard Garden
Giles Landscapes
The Fenland Alchemist Garden is based on the myths surrounding life on the Fens, including an “eccentric” Fen dweller who practises alchemy. It is made from reclaimed materials and includes a traditional Fenland “hovel”
Best Urban Garden
Helios
The Eco Chic garden is intended for “unloved and overlooked” spaces between city buildings and uses discarded materials. There are shade-tolerant plants and seats for commuters
Most Creative Award
Fenchurch Advisory Partners
The Escape Garden uses vertical gardens and a huge boundary wall to show what can be achieved in awkward spaces and limited planting space
President's Award
Winchester Growers
President's Most Creative Award
Cayman Islands Department of Tourism & Newington Nurseries
Best Floral Arrangement
Elaine Middleton
