This year's Chelsea Flower Show had much to interest the visiting pharmacist. One of the first gardens that the visitor saw was the Marie Curie Cancer Care sun awareness garden where the emphasis was on shade to protect against the harmful rays of the sun.
One marquee had as its theme lifelong learning in the garden, where there were three exhibits of particular pharmaceutical interest. Writtle College devoted its entire display to Echinacea species to show the history, conservation and current research into its properties. The results so far seem to indicate the potential of the plant as an immunostimulant. There is also work being carried out into its effects on wound healing, particularly in leg ulcers, and its anti-inflammatory properties.
Another exhibit, themed "Bridging the gap", was an apothecary's garden, but with beds not only planted with the old remedies, but also with plants of current medicinal interest, such as Taxus and Oenothera. The display was chosen to celebrate the impending merger between Wye College and Imperial College, London.
On a more macabre note, the theme of the exhibition staged by the South Bank university, London, was killer plants. The comprehensive display covered both the ancient, with reference to such cultures as the Mayan and Greek and their favoured botanical poisons, and the modern, which featured ricin, a constituent of the caster oil plant, which was famously used to murder the Bulgarian diplomat Georgi Markov. The stand also featured plants which are common causes of poisoning, as well as those whose expressed essential oils can cause blistering, burning or sensitisation of the skin.
One of the most innovative gardens at Chelsea was called "Chaos and rhythm". This had been designed to publicise the St Bartholomew's hospital city life saver scheme, which aims to reduce premature and unnecessary sudden death from cardiac arrest by putting into effect early access to the emergency services, resuscitation, defibrillation and advanced care. The garden itself symbolised the chaotic activity of the heart during such an event and what happened once the normal heart rhythm had been restored. It was all effectively done, using spiky and contorted plants for the attack, leading to a central pool to represent the act of defibrillation, and then to a calm planting scheme. The borders were planted with species known for their cardiac properties such as foxgloves, and the low fencing was contoured to represent the tracings of an electrocardiogram. Sound accompaniment was provided by a beeping automatic external defibrillator, a device that can talk its user through the life-saving procedures. - Diane Langleben

The chaotic heart represented by contorted willow and spiky cordyline; in the foreground is the section of fencing representing fibrillation