At the Chelsea Flower Show last month, I spent quite a bit of time searching for something rather unusual – a fabulous potato exhibit I saw there in the Grand Pavilion back in 2015.
I looked and looked, searched and searched, but this amazing potato exhibit was no where to be found.
I guess it was a one-off for the show four years ago.
When I asked other showgoers if they had seen it as they walked around, they laughed; they thought I was joking.
“Are you kidding me? Potatoes?” guffawed one.
“Yes, potatoes,” I said. “Lots of them. And all neatly, individually and beautifully displayed.”
White Violetta, Red Roseval, Salad Blue, Hemmes from Austria, Tasmanian Pink Eye from Australia, Bellarose from Germany, Russet Burbank from the USA and many, many others.
In 2015, this potato display won a gold medal. That is the top prize at Chelsea.
The exhibit was fantastic. I lost count when I tried to figure out how many potatoes were actually on show.
I counted 60 but I think there were closer to 80 or 90 different kinds, including the famous “lumper” that was planted and failed in 1840 because of blights and led to the awful Irish potato famine.
There was another terrific display that I also couldn’t find at this year’s show – the auricula theatre, a superb display of Primula auricula in terracotta pots set on black shelves against a dramatic “theatre-like” black backdrop.
In 2017, I was wowed by a superb display of alpine plants in full bloom. They looked like jewels spread out on a blanket of velvet.
This was the same year, I saw a marvellous display of dwarf hostas. I’d never seen anything quite like it. Gorgeous. Each plant was perfect with not a jagged, torn, ripped or nibbled leaf.
Nearby, there was an amazing wall of strawberries. It was a wonderful interpretation of the vertical garden/green wall idea.
At its best, Chelsea can make your jaw drop with surprise and delight in equal measure.
This year, I had to content myself with exciting displays of gladioli and lilies, alliums and daffodils, but my mind still goes back to that potato display.
For me, it’s the rare and unusual and unexpected that makes Chelsea such a treat.
OTHER TOP EXHIBITS AT CHELSEA
Gladioli display 
Colourful exhibit 
Delphiniums and begonia 
Lily display 
Delphiums and begonias . 
Always something to see 
Fuchsia carousel 
Entrance in 2017
