Brewin Dolphin garden scoops top prize at the Chelsea Flower Show

A garden celebrating the popularity of topiary has scooped best in show at the Chelsea Flower Show.

The Brewin Dolphin garden, created using beech hedging and yew topiary among the planting, handed designer Cleve West the show's top award for the second year running.

TV gardener Joe Swift won gold for his first Chelsea show garden, the Homebase Teenage Cancer Trust garden, which is framed with four cedarwood frames and constructed as a "dry garden" focusing on sustainability and water resources.

But Diarmuid Gavin missed out on gold for his huge 24-metre (79ft) high pyramid garden, complete with seven terraces of trees, flowers, vegetables and shrubs and a metal tube slide, receiving a silver-gilt flora award for his creation.

Among the smaller gardens, one sponsored by artificial grass company Easigrass which features three perspex cylinders won the best "fresh" garden award for plots featuring innovative design, products and planting.

And a Japanese garden which draws on traditional life in the Satoyama, the space between the lowlands and the mountains, to emphasise the importance of living in harmony with nature was judged to be the best "artisan" or small garden.

Welcome to Yorkshire's garden based on the landscape which inspired the Bronte sisters also received a gold medal in the artisan garden category.

As the public get their first chance to see the world-renowned flower show, the sun has finally put in an appearance, after the build-up to the show was dogged with cold, wet weather and muddy conditions on site.

The Queen and celebrities including Ringo Starr, Michael Caine and Who frontman Roger Daltrey have already had a sneak preview of the show, which includes a series of features marking the Diamond Jubilee.

Among the highlights which seemed to please the Queen were three floral corgis installed at the edge of a Diamond Jubilee Garden.

The dogs came with a bowl, bone and play ball all made from bronze and double white chrysanthemums.

There are more than 500 exhibitors at the event, with show gardens, courtyards, educational displays, floristry displays and garden product exhibitions.

Around 157,000 visitors attend the attraction every year.

PA