Adam Frost

Picture this; little old me doing an interview for BBC Look North, on the Monday at the show. Just as I finish, Helen Mirren walks up to me and said “Hello, I’m Helen.” I’m thinking to myself, you don’t need to be introducing yourself. The lady is a legend as far as I’m concerned. From watching her films as a teenager, to her playing the Queen, Helen Mirren is awesome and still very sexy. Anyway, she congratulated me on the garden saying how beautiful if was and we had a chat about the idea behind it. She was lovely, which has put her on an even higher pedestal. Great moment, great memory! Another big highlight was seeing my mate, Mark Gregory pick up another Gold for a great little garden. Well done fella! His gardens are not only beautiful but full of good ideas.Read more...

First, I think I should thank my wife for booking this break, which at the time caused a row. Me being stupid, obviously …’we can’t go away at this time of year, I’m too busy - are you mad,’ I seem to remember ranting. Anyway, she was right – it’s just want we needed.

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If you’ve been following my blog, you will know that the build up to Chelsea began long, long ago, so it was fantastic when Monday came and we were ready to go. And yes, that 17-day build, working 14 hours a day, with little time to do anything but focus on the garden has been worth it! The public’s reaction to my work this year is more than I could have wished for (I couldn’t resist sharing some of their comments with you below). Seeing people’s faces and hearing what they have to say really has made it all worthwhile.Read more...

When you have spent over twelve months designing and planning for chelsea, It’s a great feeling when you get all your plants and matrials sorted and there is still two weeks before we start building! All the companys listed below are great to work with, not sure they would say the same about me but hay ho! all joking aside I do believe that if you surround yourself with people you know and trust then you are half way there. The quality of the people I am working with is second to none. Building a garden at chelsea or anywhere for that matter is not just about the designer its a team effort and I have one of the best. A special thanks to all involved, lets hope its a good one!!Read more...

I’ve just had another interesting week. The highlight was getting my stone for Chelsea sorted. Marshalls have confirmed that they are supplying all my paving; we’re using Cromwell stone, which is a lovely English sand stone that I’ve used before, and it will look great next to the York handmade brick.Read more...

Last weekend was great. We held our landscape construction course at Barnsdale Gardens, where I was lucky enough to have worked for so many happy years. I run the course with David Stevens, or I should say Professor Stevens!! The man’s a bit of a legend in the garden design world and, for an old fella, his enthusiasm is second to none (joke David)! Anyway, the weekends are really good fun. Everyone gets stuck in spending half the time in the classroom and the other in the garden. In two days we get though a lot; setting out, laser levels, materials selection, construction detail to mention a few, we even get the students to lay paving and construct walls. Everyone seemed to love it, even when it started to rain, snow and hail (honestly) - well we did want to show them what it is really like to be a landscape gardener!Read more...

So far, so good! I’m just finalising a few bits with the plants, and we are sorted with the bricks, paving, timber etc.

I’ve just got back from a meeting at Anwick Forge in Sleaford, who supplied all my steel work for Chelsea last year. If any of you are interested, have a look at chelsea 2008 on my  website. There were some large cork screws (nothing to do with my love of red wine of course) and long steel rills, which I thought looked cool and Tim and Fran from the forge are a pleasure to work with. This year they are making me some water spouts for my stone walls and the grid for the fire pit, which I am sure are going to be great.Read more...

I don’t know about you, but last weekend was the first chance I had to get back out in the garden after all the recent weather. People keep telling me how lovely everything looked covered in snow. On a postcard, yes, but I was glad to see the back of it. On a brighter note, just look at the picture below - I know I’m not exactly David Bailey and the photo doesn’t really do it justice, but I planted these two last year.Read more...

I have just been lucky enough to be commissioned to design a garden just outside of Cairo in Egypt.

 Well what a place! On arrival we were whisked off to our hotel and what a drive that was. I don’t know if any of you have ever driven in Egypt but it’s mad! I soon came to the conclusion that the white lines are purely for decorative purposes – five cars in three lanes!. Anyway, we did finally arrive in one piece to a great hotel. To be honest, the Egyptian people treated us wonderfully during our whole trip (I digress).

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by Magda Ibrahim
Horticulture Week
24 October 2008

In the world of garden design, the landscapers who toil on the mesmerising final creations are often the forgotten faces at the back of the picture.
Averting crises, dealing with missing materials and simply having nerves of steel are generally prerequisites, particularly for the contractors getting to grips with gardens at major events such as the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.Read more...