We told you so. Or, at least, Titchmarsh did. Green is BIG in gardens this year. The Chelsea judges agreed and awarded Best in Show to the Laurent Perrier Garden which is almost exclusively green foliage bar a broody water feature being something of an urban chic take on a cattle trough. It's a calm, contemplative place. Perfect for drinking the sponsor's brand in, no doubt. The fantastically named Edible Playground won the best......

Two pink ladies admire their flower arrangements According to Alan Titchmarsh this evening, the big thing at this year's show for gardens is green. Lots of green. Who'd have thought it? Thankfully, as these beautiful shots testify, there is plenty of colour to go round too. Lupins It was celebrity day yesterday and jolly gala evening last night. Ringo Star turned up to check out George Harrison's life story garden (pictured below) and Brian May......

The Chelsea Flower show kicks off tomorrow and is encouraging Londoners to welcome Ratty into their gardens. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Kenneth Graeme’s The Wind In The Willows, the River and Rowing Museum will be setting up shop to tell London gardeners how to make their urban refuges water vole friendly. Graeme’s classic follows the story of Ratty the water vole. The cute critters are now declining sharply in numbers. The Chelsea......

Here’s what we’ve learned whilst you’ve been trying to dodge the Respect Bus this weekend (gotta give Galloway credit – he’s tireless on the old campaign trail): Bureaucracy threatens next year’s Chelsea Flower Show. Actually, bureaucracy is threatening civilisation as we know it, but Londonist frowns upon melodrama so forget we said that. Three public health workers have been bitten by a rabid puppy. In the weekend crime round-up, we can tell you that......

This Londonista’s grows wild and unkempt, every now and then receiving token, uncommitted weeding and perhaps a going over with a blunt flymo. Sarah Eberle takes things horticultural a little more seriously, having spent the last 8 years researching and designing her gold award winning show garden for the Chelsea Flower Show 2007. Less a garden and more an astronaut fantasy made flesh in flora, "600 days with Bradstone" is a terrestrial space garden,......

That most eclectic of musical festivals, the South Bank Centre's Meltdown, has announced its line-up for 2007. After a hiatus last year while the Centre was undergoing a much needed facelift, the festival is back with a bang - and this year it's being curated by channel-hopping, square-jawed music man, Jarvis Cocker. "We shall rouse you from your slumber. And you're going to love it," writes the bespectacled one on the South Bank website.......

Bank Holiday weekend: what are you going to do? There's so much happening (and most of it free) that it's more a question of what are you not going to do. To avoid being overwhelmed by the incredible number and range of cultural things to see and do, and to keep your bank account in check by picking only the free stuff, we've compiled a Culture Crawl timetable for Friday to Monday, so you......

The opening of a new North African bar/restaurant in Marylebone is not something to write home about but given the competition you should expect it to be worthwhile in its incipient weeks and months. Occo opened earlier this year and Londonist visited it shortly afterwards on a particularly sweltering late summer evening. The surroundings are quietly sublime; clean lines dovetailing into mucky browns; and you are subtly reminded of the effort made to this......

We're not exactly big on gardening here at Londonist. Yes, we know it's the Chelsea Flower Show thhs week, but we just haven't reached that age yet where we can get excited about floral arrangements and shrubbery and what kind of manure is 'in' this season. But, having said all that, how cool is the Gardens of Glass exhibition at Kew Gardens? All the pieces of hand-blown glass on display are by American Dale......

The BBC strike isn't having the effect we hoped for. We fondly remember when one of the rival broadcasters went on strike that empty slots were filled with reruns of the 60's Batman TV show so we were hoping to be served up some Blake's Seven. All that seems to have happened is that Chris Moyles and Terry Wogan stayed in bed (not the same one we hasten to add) made it in after......