Plastic Flowers "No", Gnomes "Never" - Yet Plasticine has its Day at Chelsea

To The Toy Detective, the Chelsea Flower Show is little more than a reminder that it's time to think about swopping the felt trilby for a straw hat. However, this year a particular show garden has provided a surprising and controversial interest for many, including yours truly.

James May, as-seen-on-TV's Top Gear (a show that's not about fine clothing), presented a garden made with Plasticine. Which, being at the Royal Horticultural Society's most prestigious event, certainly got some rather un-amused looks from the more conservative show-goers. In fact, the appearance of a gnome in another garden brought both outrage as well as references to the rule-book.

Big news as it obviously was to anyone glancing at Britain's media in the last week, what really elevates it to major news status (for me at least) was its mention on BBC Radio 4's News Quiz.

Thankfully and to my delight, the garden will soon be exhibited at London's South Bank Centre. After all the hard graft of sculpture, it would be a terrible shame to let it decline into a greying blob that merely retained a talent for collecting fluff and hair.

The Daily Telegraph: Top Gear's James May designs Plasticine garden for Chelsea Flower Show
The Daily Telegraph: James May's Plasticine garden wins special award at Chelsea Flower Show 2009
The Daily Telegraph: Plasticine garden goes on to major arts centre