Rivals turn greenery with envy as Gavin cultivates award

CELEBRITY Irish gardener Diarmuid Gavin picked up an award for his design at the Chelsea Flower Show yesterday and found himself entangled in another row at the prestigious event.

After reportedly falling out with the designer of a neighbouring show garden, Mr Gavin was attacked for "lying" over sponsorship arrangements for his display.

Mr Gavin admitted on his BBC TV show Diarmuid's Big Adventure he falsely told Chelsea Flower Show organisers, the Royal Horticultural Society, he had sponsorship lined up.

But this did not stop Mr Gavin receiving a Silver-Gilt medal for his creation, which contains thousands of spherical lollipops in bright colours.

Fellow designer Bunny Guinness also won a Silver-Gilt award for her garden, which lies next to Mr Gavin's. The pair reportedly fell out over the height of a wall.

Now show director Stephen Bennett has vented his fury over Gavin's false claims. The Times quoted Mr Bennett as saying: "We are very cross about his lying about sponsorship. He said he had a sponsor and he didn't. We had 60 applications for this year's 21 big gardens. We had to turn down 40," he said.

To make matters worse, the official catalogue lists his creation A Colourful Suburban Eden as being sponsored by The National Lottery. But it was eventually sponsored by Camelot, the Lottery organisers, and no money from the Lottery fund was involved.

"Diarmuid is quite a character. He got no award for his last garden at Chelsea in 1996 because it was not finished in time.

But Mark Robinson, operations director at Diarmuid Gavin Designs, said: "When we applied we were absolutely confident that we had a sponsor on board. The cost of the garden increased tremendously and it was apparent we would need more sponsorship."

The result represents a significant success for the presenter of the BBC gardening programme, Home Front as he previously received a bronze medal in his first appearance.

Gavin, a 39-year-old from Rathfarnham and son-in-law of retired social diarist, Terry Keane, has become the latest darling of the gardening world.

Top award of Best Show Garden went to the Hortus Conclusus display designed by Christopher Bradley Hole which offered a modern interpretation of a traditional enclosed garden.