A few weeks ago Mrs B and I were lucky enough to be able to go to Chelsea flower show. A generous birthday present forom friends, this was my first visit to the highlight of the horticultural shows.

Our tickets were for Saturday so we had scoured the TV coverage from Monty and friends as they roamed the avenues and spoke in glowing terms about the planting of this or the stonework in that, with the occasional oblique cristicism of water features or colour schemes. So we felt like we knew the gardens already. And yet the reality of them was often in contrast to what even 4K TV conveys, and our opinions altered. For example, the Nurture Landscapes garden had looked arid and colourless on the TV (despite effusive gushings from the GW team) but it really impressed me with its subtlety and sparse planting.

This garden was unusual, inasmuch as none of the flowers were ones I could claim to have in the Midlife Garden or have even seen elsewhere. Most of the gardens at Chelsea had the same plants that we have dotted around the beds in MLG. And many were often of a type which you could easily find in your average hedgerow, such is the fad for re-wilding. So wild flowers (‘weeds without a PR campaign’) and fallen trees were the order of the day.

We pushed our way through the increasing numbers of elderly gardening fans (a club to which, I guess, we are affiliated) and got our complimentary glasses of rose, courtesy of The Newt in Somerset. We sipped the chilled wine and pondered the irony that The Newt should be supporting Chelsea flower show at a time when re-wilding is all the rage. The Newt sometimes appears to have the same relationship to re-wilding that Boris Johnson has with honesty in Government. Just saying you’re doing it does not mean you actually are.

Upon returning to our own garden in Somerset (with our own newts) it was reassuring to see we ticked many of the boxes that were being displayed at Chelsea. We have beds that are bursting at the seams with irises, roses, lupins and foxgloves. We have show gardens for all tastes.

The Spursy Garden, which like the aforementioned football club, has some standout performers (for Harry Kane, read echinops and silver birch) but the overall performance the squad might not match the sum of its parts.

Elsewhere, we realise that in order to Chelsea-fy our veg patch, we simply need to call it a potager, and put a bit of picket fencing around it. Possible gold medal for the impressive sugar snap peas, but maybe take that down to a silver gilt as the garlic has rust on it.

In the rear garden category the “warm welcome” rose has been in the finest form ever in the back fence New Zealand garden, where the Cordyline Australis dominates. And to keep Monty happy, our water feature / wildlife pond is teeming with life, although it is getting clogged by weed. But we have placed a wedge of straw in it which has cleared it for now.

At the front is the most contentious area of garden which many would describe as a a poorly maintained drive, but which we like to think of as an arid garden with hardy bienniels and native plants (gravel with foxgloves & weeds). We are still deciding what to actually do with it, but it has a certain charm and could be a medal prospect at next year’s chelsea re-wilding show.