In Praise of ... Chelsea Flower Show

There is nothing inherently green about an event that attracts 157,000 visitors in four days, but green is the theme - as well as the predominant color - of the Chelsea Flower Show that opens today. Once, all we had was ivy to climb up the walls, ruin the brickwork, bring down the guttering and, with it, relations with the neighbors. Now the buzz word is verdant cladding: panels of plants that insulate buildings, filter the air and provide habitats for insects. Another theme this year is restraint: green, white and silver-grey are the key colors of the gardener's palette. The Chelsea Flower Show is more than just the annual showcase of garden design. It is an institution that has survived two world wars, the similarly destructive fashion for decking, the onset of global warming - and now food inflation. In the days when the grounds of the Royal hospital were used for the site of an anti-aircraft battery the big idea was digging for victory. Today there is a new boom in vegetable seeds, which for the first time in a decade are outselling flower seeds. Vegetables feature in four of the show gardens. The pursuit of excellence should not be confused with good manners. There are furious disputes over boundary plantings that breach the rules of the Royal Horticultural Society and great tension when the peonies arrive. One contestant was even caught warming her irises with a hairdryer. Maybe gardeners should take a leaf out of their own manuals and take a calming stroll around their contemplatively green creations.