Alex Denman comes from a family of gardeners. She showed us a slide of her maternal family with her as a small child crouching amidst luscious vegetables growing in their family allotment and told us how she would wriggle through the tunnel between the rows of beans and sit there in her wigwam. It was at this stage of her life that she was introduced to flower shows which has become a lifelong addiction. She was encouraged to read horticulture by her parents and attended Reading University.
Apprenticeship
In her role as Secretary of the University’s Horticultural Society, Alex was fortunate enough to meet John Bond and learned about the apprentice scheme running at The Savill Garden.
Chosen as one of the “Bond girls”, a year of hard work followed and Alex told us of experiences such as double digging the herbaceous borders and running through the Valley Gardens being quizzed on plants.
Another time, the Queen came upon Alex and her companions deadheading rhododendrons and apparently was sufficiently motivated to start deadheading those at the castle!
Having John Bond on her CV was a definite bonus! Always a topic of conversation at any interview this prestigious training opened the door to an exciting career.
Alex explained that her time at Savill Garden taught her the importance of doing things well and to a very high standard; a benchmark she has used ever since.
Belmond Pullman Train Carriage – Chelsea Flower Show, May 2016
Beginnings at the Chelsea Flower Show
A spell as the Features Development Manager at the RHS Garden Magazine enabled Alex to travel the world and visit amazing gardens.
In 2006 she was headhunted to become the Show Manager at the Chelsea Flower Show, the best known of all flower shows. The Chelsea Flower Show covers 12 acres in the south grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea and there are 110 exhibits. 170,000 visitors attend every year but in addition there are the millions who watch the show on television.
This tremendous media coverage provides an opportunity to showcase, not just British horticulture at its very best, but also charities and the great work that they do.
The designers have just 40 days to build, show and dismantle their gardens: team working is essential! The Show allows designers to let their imaginations run riot. Exhibits have included dinosaurs, a red bus, a train carriage and a bathtub!
Alex described that her craziest event was the design and display of the Monaco garden, which had taken some four years.
She had a phone call one evening from her boss to say that she had to present herself at the Ritz at 8am the following morning for breakfast with Prince Albert of Monaco; and then to take him round the show gardens. Whilst showing Prince Albert the gardens they bumped into the King and Queen of Sweden.
Charities
Alex emphasised the importance of allowing the charities to showcase their work and we saw several slides of gardens designed for these charities.
She also showed us a slide of Remembrance Day poppies displayed outside the Flower Show main event along the pathway leading up to the Hospital. These poppies had been made by a couple of ladies in Australia as a community tribute to fallen servicemen and women. These ladies had aimed to make 5000 poppies but in fact had made 300,000.
Alex is very involved in a charity called Project Giving Back, Gardens for Good Causes. This charity aims to provide 60 good causes, 60 designers and 60 gardens with the opportunity to display at Chelsea.
Good causes include charities such as Mind, and the opportunity for raising funds and awareness for such projects as a counselling room at Saint James’s Church Piccadilly. Each garden is relocated after the show.
The Royal Windsor Rose and Horticultural Society
Having a young family and moving to Englefield Green allowed Alex to get involved in local charities including the Royal Windsor Rose and Horticultural Society (RWRHS).
This charity has been in existence for 123 years and the monarch has always been the patron. The Royal Windsor Flower Show has run for the last 118 years but when Alex joined flower shows were in decline and the RWRHS was no exception.
Floral displays ready to be judged
Alex had a vision for the future which included getting children more involved in gardening and the joys of growing. She invited Peter Seabrook to come on board and with his support started up the children’s section of this show which has since flourished.
During the COVID lockdown the RWRHS ran a “Hope and Happiness” campaign which involved planting sunflowers in pots and distributing them all round Windsor. They also gave away about 2000 packets of sunflower seeds.
The RWRHS aims to give any profit from the Flower Show back to the community. It recently funded a project to enable six young people from Centre Point, the charity for homeless young people, to have four days experience of commercial horticulture.
Current plans include supporting 15 schools who are providing gardening experience for their children.
Questions and answers
There was time after Alex’s talk for a few questions.
She was asked whether there were any traditions associated with the Flower Show. When it first started Queen Victoria was the patron and the practice then was for exhibitors in the rose event to provide 3 vases of 40 stems each. The winner of this section had their roses displayed at Queen Victoria’s dinner table that evening.
This tradition has evolved and is much smaller. Nowadays a small posy is chosen for the monarch to grace his breakfast table. We were all exhorted to start flower arranging!
If you’d like to learn more about the RWRHS and the Flower Show, please visit their website, www.rwrhs.com.
