Monty Don and Joe Swift spark debate over RHS Chelsea's Best Show Garden winner
BBC's RHS Chelsea Flower Show co-hosts Monty Don and Joe Swift have questioned the judging process following the results of the Best Show Garden award.
Monty appeared alongside Joe on Tuesday night’s episode (21st May) of the BBC Two programme and said they couldn’t ‘understand’ the judges' decision, which saw Ula Maria take home the prize for her Japanese-inspired Muscular Dystrophy UK – Forest Bathing Garden.
Every year at RHS Chelsea, Monty and Joe predict who they think will win the top award. They write the names of a garden and designer and put it in an envelope, and revisit it once the awards have been handed out.
Gardeners’ World star Monty admitted to co-host Joe, 'Right, well, you got it very wrong. It was certainly not WaterAid by Tom Massey and Je Ahn.' While Joe responded, ‘No, and it wasn't The National Garden Scheme Garden by Tom Stuart-Smith, either.'
Monty conceded that ‘obviously we got it wrong, and that is fine,' adding: 'Let me just say, I think that Ula's garden was fabulous, deserved a gold medal. The fact that she's young and a brilliant designer is fantastic, but I think everybody I've spoken to and a lot of people are saying that they just don't understand where the judges are going.'
Joe went on to describe the ‘technical’ nature of the judging process, describing it as a box-ticking exercise instead of just taking in the gardens visually, and joked that there would be ‘an algorithm coming in'. Joe concluded: ‘We made a prediction and for me those were the two standout gardens here so I'm trying to understand why they didn't win. We have seen hundreds and hundreds of gardens over the years.'
Monty agreed, saying that the judges, in an 'effort to be transparent and objective, they have lost that sense of delight that makes a garden, and what we have is a procedure that is like passing a driving test'.
Monty concluded that it was an 'interesting debate'.
There is one more set of awards to be revealed, the People's Choice award, voted for by the public, which will be announced on Friday evening. In the meantime, recap all the RHS Chelsea 2024 winning gardens.
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