A garden without one real flower, plant or blade of grass has had the country’s gardening elite scrambling for their secateurs before the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea show.

James May, a presenter from BBC’s Top Gear, has been given approval from the show’s vetting panel to submit a garden design made entirely from Plasticine.

As he put the finishing touches to the garden, which has taken 2.5 tonnes of Plasticine in 24 colours, May was clearly delighted at his challenge to the gardening Establishment.

“They are extremely proper you know,” he said. “And one or two might decide to get rather sniffy.”

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Their majesties were much interested in the Hon. Vicary Gibbs's wonderful display of forced vegetables

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Sure enough, there was soon some mud-slinging about May’s Paradise in Plasticine, which he described as a “complement to nature”.

Peter Seabrook, the gardening writer and broadaster, asked: “Can you think of a better way to dumb down what was the world’s finest showcase for horticultural skills than by introducing Plasticine plants?

“What next in this crazy world — an everlasting flower show of plastic flowers and Plasticine plants to meet life-suffocating health and safety requirements.”

Steve Bradley, a television gardening expert who is co-ordinating four gardens at the show, also savaged the concept.

“If it’s not going to have plants in it, then it shouldn’t be called a garden. How can the RHS judge it on the same basis as other show gardens if there are no plants?”

The show committee at Chelsea, now in its 87th year, also had reservations. One insider told The Times: “It was touch and go. Some thought it would damage the RHS and what it stands for.”

May’s venture at Chelsea is linked with Toy Stories, a new BBC TV series about favourite children’s toys that have been replaced by high-tech game machines and gadgets.

Plasticine was something May had never really played with as a boy. “I wasn’t very arty, I liked making things.”

He said: “It’s strange me being at Chelsea. I love flowers but don’t know anything about them and I haven’t even got a garden, only a pot garden and I only look at it. My girlfriend does it.”

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