Provence Prevails at Chelsea

The "Provence Garden" from L'Occitane has won a Silver Gilt Award at this year's Chelsea Flower Show, which runs May 25 to 29 at Royal Hospital in Chelsea, London. The garden, its creators say, recaptures the vision of natural beauty that L'Occitane founder Olivier Baussan had in mind when setting up his Provence-based body-care and fragrance company 30 years ago. It features key plant species found in the sunny South of France and around the Med: olive and almond trees, lavender cultivars and so forth. The garden was designed by James Towillis and built by Peter Dowle Plants & Gardens; when the show ends, 90 percent of the plants will be re-used in future projects or sold. ("There's a lot of interest in the olive trees at present," reports Simon Ford, who works with the designer.) For more garden photos and info, go here. Or, take a 360 degree virtual tour here. For more info on the Royal Horticultural Society, sponsor of the Chelsea Flower Show, click here. The BBC website has great show coverage here...and you can see all the gardens here. Finally, if you'd like to cast a vote for the Peoples Choice Award, you can do that here.