ATTENTION will be firmly focused on the show gardens, the star exhibits of the Chelsea Flower Show, when the event opens tomorrow.
This year 16 gardens have been painstakingly created from nothing at the Royal Horticultural Society showground, down on the 20 or more gardens which visitors have come to expect. Stephen Bennett, the show's director, blames a "post Millennium hang-over".
The Queen - who on past form will visit today - is likely to be delighted with the show garden produced by the Prince of Wales. His Islamic garden is based on the design of a carpet at his home, Highgrove. Roses are used in an unusual way, being sunk into pits two feet below the ground. The garden is surely a leading contender for the "best of show" award.
Another garden with a good chance consists of a modernist, pink stone sitting area plonked into the middle of the meadow of your dreams. It is the conception of the leading designer Tom Piggott-Smith in a garden sponsored by Laurent Perrier and Harpers & Queen.
Modernism continues to make inroads into Chelsea. The show garden sponsored by Circ - the manufacturers of shampoo for men with thinning hair - features a sheet of water falling into a circular pond before being sucked up by a circular chrome drain. The effect is dramatic, simple and elegant. It is noticeable, however, that it is the architecture that grabs the eye, rather than the plants.
However, one place where modernism has made no inroads is the Help The Aged garden - a nostalgia-binge Chelsea garden of the old sort. It features a semi-detached house, washing on the line and a Mini in the garage all dating back to 1961, when Help the Aged began.
The Daily Telegraph this year has broken with its recent tradition of ground-breaking gardens. It is showing a Japanese garden instead which has been created with painstaking attention to detail. It is essentially an exhibit of different kinds of Japanese gardens from three different periods in Japan's awesomely long garden history.
It is a good year for new plant introductions. Roy Lancaster, the noted plantsman, said it was one of the best he has known. A blue alstroemeria bred in Holland is on show at Viv Marsh's stand - normally alstroemerias range between red and yellow, so a blue one is a real novelty. Or at least it would be. The only trouble is that the flowers are not blue at the moment. They are more mauve, although Mr Marsh says that they will go blue later.
David Austin, meanwhile, has introduced a new rose, Mayflower - pink with a hint of lilac - which he claims is the most disease-resistant rose he has ever bred. Roses are gorgeous flowers but deeply out of fashion. If only more of them become disease-free, perhaps they will make a comeback.
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Prince joins in Japanese 'fools dance'(Yahoo:Ananova)
The Prince of Wales has been taking part in a Japanese "fools dance" in London's Hyde Park.
Charles raised his arms above his head, bent his knees and put on an energetic display with the folk dancers.
Waving a Japanese paper fan in his right hand and a pair of folded sunglasses in his left, the Prince, in a grey double-breasted suit, danced the Awa Odori (fools dance) for about three minutes with Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan, although the latter's performance was perhaps slightly less than enthusiastic.
The princes were co-patrons of Japan 2001 Matsuri, a traditional Japanese carnival of arts, food, sport and lifestyle.
As he jigged alongside the troupe, all wearing loose white silk gowns and some in straw hats, the Prince of Wales was urged to raise his arms higher above his head by Shinichi Nishimiya, the chief executive of the festival.
The Awa dance is a tradition of southern Japan. According to tradition, it is those not joining in the fools dance who are the most foolish.
The chief of the troupe, 58-year-old Sturse Sashiko, said she had been delighted to lead the princes in dance.
Of Charles' efforts, she said simply: "He's a very good dancer."