Volunteers are the life-blood of many an organization in this country and the Chelsea Fringe is no exception. The 100 or so events that took place during last year’s festival were created by around 400 individuals, while the Fringe itself was run by approximately 50 volunteers. These 450 people created a festival that attracted an estimated audience of 45,000 people. This year the … [Read more...]
Vienna is blumen marvellous
April 26, 2013 By Leave a Comment
The Chelsea Fringe is truly a festival sans frontières. This year the Fringe is spreading its wings far beyond the realms of SW3 to include several satellite Chelsea Fringes, one of which is Vienna. The Austrian capital may be better known as "the City of Music" and famed for its devotion to the twin gods of patisserie and torrefaction but this summer the Viennese love of gardening will come … [Read more...]
Every dog will have his day
April 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Dogs make the perfect gardening companion – they usually take an active interest in whatever it is you’re planting, are appreciative of newly dug holes and – crucially – never question your judgment when it comes to trying out new colour combinations in the border. So what better way to celebrate this special relationship than with a dog show in one of London’s most historic and … [Read more...]
Gardens that stoop to conquer
March 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Gibraltar Terrace, on Chatham’s New Road was once the pride of Georgian Chatham, but today its pretty red brick façade looks out onto a starkly urban scene. Traffic on the busy A2 (the old London-Dover road) passes just a few feet from the elegant, arched front doors and windows and only a few of the properties here have front gardens to buffer them from its effects. This is the challenging … [Read more...]
The urban orchard with a twist
February 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment
As founder of the ecologically minded, not-for-profit, educational organisation, The Pop-Up Foundation (http://pop-up-foundation.org/), Paul Clarke (and his co-founder Alison Hall) are used to working in challenging locations – from setting up coffee growing projects in Uganda to nurturing inner city urban farms. For Planting Ideas, the Foundation’s Chelsea Fringe project, they have chosen … [Read more...]
And we’re off…
January 17, 2013 By 3 Comments
It was standing room only last night at the Garden Museum for the first general meeting of the Chelsea Fringe 2013. Despite the chill outside, the atmosphere inside the redundant church of St Mary at Lambeth was toasty warm – although this was perhaps down to the sheer body count as much as any conventional heat source - with a friendly congregation of gardening minded folk. A few of the 100 … [Read more...]
