Crocus co-director Mark Fane has revealed to Gardens Illustrated that this year’s Chelsea Flower Show will be the last at which the company will exhibit.
Crocus are a fixture at the event, having done all 22 RHS Chelsea Flower Shows since the company was founded in 2000, building 36 judged show gardens – 12 of which won Best Show Garden and 33 of which won Gold medals.
The company, which Mark co-founded with Peter Clay, is building its final two gardens at the 2024 show in May – Tom Stuart Smith’s NGS garden and Ula Maria’s for MDUK.
As well as doing the landscaping for the gardens, Crocus also grows all the plants for them at its Windlesham nursery. Many top tier designers have repeatedly chosen to work with Crocus for their show gardens, and lots of budding designers have also been coached through the planning and build process to success by the experienced team over the years.
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Why is Crocus pulling out after Chelsea Flower Show 2024?
Crocus has decided to stop for several reasons, including to free up the nursery at its busiest time of year – around 8,000 plants of the highest quality are needed for each Chelsea show garden – and the fact that it is not commercially worthwhile for the company, especially when costs are rising.
Mark cited the changing face of the show as a challenge too, with new regulations and a lack of interest in the work landscapers and growers do at the show making it difficult. He also says they just need a rest: “It’s the Jurgen Klopp argument! Doing two show gardens a year is physically and emotionally exhausting”.
What the designers say
Sarah Price has worked with the Crocus team several times for her show gardens. "It is rare to be encouraged to push the boundaries of what is possible as a designer," she says, "but Mark and Peter always did just that. Since my first Crocus Chelsea garden in 2012, we’ve developed a deep sense of trust and mutual understanding, carefully working out exactly how to make the best possible garden, with no room for compromise. This sounds serious, but working with Crocus on Chelsea was always brilliant fun! What other nursery would allow the takeover of an polytunnel for the fabrication of thousands of handmade low-carbon bricks? Or source beautiful, mature roses, the envy of Chelsea at five metres in height. I’ll miss the collaboration, but I know the many gardens they created will live on and continue to inspire."
Crocus built Harris Bugg's 2021 Chelsea garden for then-sponsor M&G Investments, taking on the challenging task of building and planting the headline garden mid-pandemic for the first, and probably last, ever September-time show. Charlotte Harris, who runs the practice with Hugo Bugg, has fond memories of the experience. "Peter Clay and Mark Fane are a tenacious twosome and their drive for excellence inspires the whole team, including the designers they are working with. Mark Fane’s rigorous pre-planning and relentless attention to the excellence of the detail is a masterclass. Peter’s reputation as a horticultural bloodhound is unmatched, tracking down hard-to-find plants and rarities that designers ask for (and even some that just arrive, like magic!)."
Mark followed through with the utmost generosity when we managed to achieve what at the time appeared to be an impossible deadline
"It was at that September Chelsea in 2021 that I confidently told Mark after a few beers that we’d be done, dusted and planted by 5pm on the day before adjudication," Charlotte continues. "He arched an eyebrow and said he’d be buying champagne all round for the whole team if that was the case – he’d seen how many trolleys of plants were left. To his credit, he followed through with the utmost generosity when we managed to achieve what at the time appeared to be an impossible deadline, with happy celebrations in the September sunshine for both build and planting teams. I should also add that Mark and Pete give very good hugs, an added bonus for weary designers."
Another designer that Crocus has worked closely with was Cleve West. "I’ve been extremely fortunate to work with some great contractors at the Chelsea Flower Show including Crocus for the Telegraph in 2011 and Centrepoint last year," he told us. "Needless to say, on both occasions, I was in very capable hands. I remember being very nervous going to Crocus HQ for my first meeting before embarking on the Telegraph Garden. They had won best in show in 2009 and 2010 and had huge photos of these and other Best in Show gardens on the walls, so I knew the pressure was on to win a hat-trick. Peter Harket, their legendary project manager went through everything with the finest-toothed of combs wanting to know every aspect of the build back to front. Several months of this with him saying, 'Right...let’s go through this again...' had me ready to bash his brains out with a mattock, but when we finished the build, without a hitch, almost four days early and securing the hat-trick of Best in Shows, I could have married him on the spot."
Tom Stuart-Smith finds the idea of not being able to work with Crocus for Chelsea in the future as "a bit scary".
He adds: "The Centrepoint Garden last year was a real leap of faith on their part so I’ll be eternally grateful to them for that, not to mention their expertise and teamwork. The irony of Crocus winning the Best Construction Award for what was basically a demolished house wasn’t lost on us, but it serves as good reminder of their commitment to the vision and attention to detail that made the garden believable.”
Tom Stuart-Smith says that he has developed a trusting partnership with Crocus over the years. "We have come a long way from Chelsea 2001," he says, "where all the Miscanthus we had grown for the show - my bad choice - were very chlorotic, and we couldn’t find any grasses with any height, so we eventually resorted to buying 600 Knifophia Mango Popsicle for their foliage alone. Peter Clay is amazing and indefatigable at finding good plants and never afraid of buying more than we think we might need just in case… Funnily it does seem that often the 'just in case' scenario does end up becoming the case!" He admits that he finds the idea of not being able to work with them for Chelsea in the future as "a bit scary".
Mark and Peter have their own fond memories of past garden builds, but asked to pick a favourite, Mark says: “It’s a bit like choosing a favourite child – you can’t.”
The crowning achievement for Peter over two decades of shows has been “cheating disaster", as he puts it. "I will never stand on the stage at the Royal Opera House after a performance of La Bohème, or play for Real Madrid in the Champions League Final. But I have known what it is to be part of an incredible team of truly talented people; all who share one aim – to achieve something remarkable.”
So what will they miss most about creating gardens for the show? “Chelsea is this melting pot of creativity, stress, hard work, humour and competitiveness – and I will miss all that," explains Mark. "People think us gardeners are nice cuddly people. Maybe we are, but we are also deeply competitive and we want to win. Chelsea can bring all those emotions out of you.”
Peter Clay will be speaking about past Chelsea gardens and The National Garden Scheme Garden the company are creating this year at the show in a special online talk on the evening of Tuesday 9 April at 7pm with designer Tom Stuart-Smith - you can buy tickets here.