Blooming madness

At first glance it looks as though something has gone very wrong at the Liquorice Allsorts factory.

Either that, or Damien Hirst has been hanging out with the Teletubbies and had a brilliant idea for his next work.

What it does not look like, by any stretch of the imagination, is a serious entry for the Chelsea Flower Show - not unless Bertie Bassett and Tinky Winky are doing the judging.

But, apparently, it is for real. Television gardener Diarmuid Gavin has come up with the creation for this year's show, and called it A Colourful Suburban Eden.

Colourful it certainly is. The pod is in fact a summerhouse: but not, it would seem, a summerhouse as we know it.

Inspired by the Fabergé ¥ggs, it is covered with 5,000 enamelled steel balls and can - according to Gavin - double up as a conservatory.

The entry - sponsored by the National Lottery, which got on board after it saw the balls - is described as "a vibrant, light-hearted garden" where the green (inspired by Gavin's native Ireland, of course) is "echoed by a series of multi-coloured metal spheres".

As well as La-La and friends, other influences are said to include Willy Wonka, the modernist movement and yes, Damien Hirst's spot paintings.

There are coloured metal balls on stalks and, for old-fashioned sorts who like plants in their gardens, some ferns and Japanese aralia.

Mark Robinson, Gavin's operations director, said: "Diarmuid says it is a suburban garden which is about fun. But the planting is very much integral. The pod sits in a bed of ferns - it almost floats there."

Viewers have been following the progress of Gavin's garden on his BBC2 programme Diarmuid's Big Adventure. Much is at stake: last year he vowed to win a gold medal at this year's show, which opens on 26 May.