Hi °C | Lo °C GARDENER Diarmuid Gavin has missed out on designing a garden for this year's Chelsea Flower Show because his planned creation is too big for the site.
But he's pushing ahead with plans for the biggest ever garden at Hampton Court.
Gavin's award-winning gardens at Chelsea have attracted a blaze of publicity in the past two years for their daring designs.
The maverick Irishman's latest extravagant effort is a Willy Wonka-style chocolate themed garden that uses 18 shipping containers.
The showman wanted to create it at Chelsea's centennial show this May – but had to settle for the Royal Horticultural Society's sister show at Hampton Court in July.
RHS show organiser Bob Sweet said that Gavin's proposed 2,000sq m flight of fancy was simply too big for Chelsea.
Last year, the 48-year-old had 75 Chelsea pensioners aged between 69 and 93 line up on his seven-storey, 80ft-high 'Magical Tower Garden'.
And in 2011, he won a first gold medal for his 'Irish Sky Garden'.
It was inspired by hit movie 'Avatar' and came complete with a bright pink pod winched 80ft up in the air by a crane.
Gavin was uncharacteristically coy about his Hampton Court design. He said: "Silence is golden until I've got a garden created."
Irish Independent
