It's been a wonderful week on the Guest Blog this week, thank you to Wes Fleming and team for sharing what's involved in creating an award winning garden at Chelsea!  Congratulations on winning the Silver Gilt award!  Congratulations also to the 5 winners of Fleming's Fruit and Ornamental Tree Guide - Jacqui, Amanda, Craig, Natalie and Michelle! Thanks again to the crew at Fleming's Nurseries! - Jenny x

The Fleming's 2012 Trailfinder's Australian Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show!

After 17 days of construction totalling over 2,500 man hours, with 12 enthusiastic Aussies and 38 tonnes of tools, equipment, materials and plants sourced from all around the globe - we are thrilled to reveal this year’s Trailfinder’s Australian Garden presented by Fleming’s Nurseries at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show! It has been an amazing few weeks and we are so proud to have been awarded the Silver Gilt award which is the second highest possible honour, proving that we Aussies are among the best in the world when it comes to gardening and landscaping.

Some of the details of the garden, amazing floating dining table and big, beautiful stone bathtub!

Our designer this year, Jason Hodges, made a huge impact with his design and it completely epitomises the Australian lifestyle - a very stylish, user friendly and fun garden. Our garden stood in stark contrast to the English gardens which focus on dainty plantings and reflective gardens,  while Jason’s design was all about creating an ‘outdoor room’ and making the most of the space so it can be used in every season. There are of course fun, luxury items that we would all want in our gardens if we had the space and means - the outdoor bath, separate shower, barbeque, pizza oven, plunge-pool/spa and a large deck area with built in gas fireplace.  These are the quirky elements of the garden that the poms are loving, and the judges’ decision proves it resonates with them too.

Looking just as amazing at night- lots of Australian materials and products light Lump light sculpture and Cosh Living outdoor furniture.

It’s great to be able to bring a fresh aspect of Australian living and lifestyle to the Chelsea Flower Show each year - it’s really an opportunity to showcase the very best our shores have to offer. We typically start the design process anywhere between 12 months to two years before each show, so each Australian garden we present is a culmination of years of passion, blood, sweat and sometimes even tears. We are incredibly proud of every design we put together, and I personally feel privileged to showcase Australia’s incredibly diverse landscapes at what is the most highly regarded garden show in the world.

Wes and Jason meet Prince Philip, the Queen and Ringo Starr! What a day!!

This year we were fortunate enough to meet The Queen and Prince Philip as well as Cliff Richard and Ringo Starr - all had very generous things to say about our 2012 garden.

We have had a great time showing TDF readers how our Chelsea Flower Show Garden comes together. Thank you for reading and if you love our garden as much as we do, please consider voting for us in the Chelsea Flower Show People’s Choice awards here.

Happy gardening,

- Wes