Chelsea gardeners switch on the flower power

Gardeners desperate to win gold at the Chelsea Flower Show are using hair-driers and halogen lights to protect their plants during the unseasonal cold weather.

With night frosts and only 12 days until judging, TV gardener Matthew Wilson said: "Exhibitors are having to manipulate their plants to ensure they are at their peak for the show.

"If night temperatures continue to fall below zero, plants just stop growing and think it's February. It can make the difference between getting a top medal or a lesser one."

Competitors can be marked down for failing to follow the plan for their garden, which had to be approved by the Royal Horticultural Society as long ago as last July. The deadline for submitting changes was last Monday, but if the cold weather continues it is believed many more plants that are not flowering will have to be substituted.

Roger Platts, who has designed designed a traditional garden for M&G Investments, sponsor of this year's show, said: "It's a nightmare. I haven't known anything like it in 20 years. The problem is frosts, low day temperatures and low light. I've had to move plants under glass or polythene."

Mark Gregory, designer of the Children's Society garden, lost all his ferns yesterday in the frost. He said: "The replacements won't be as tall. The public won't notice but I'll know it's not right."