The garden designer was to bring his new Dublin Airport smoking and drinking shelter garden to Chelsea for 2010.

But a representative from Diarmuid Gavin's office said: "We had hoped we were going to be doing Chelsea, but Diarmuid has got a major new television programme which is imminent."

The programme — which has nothing to do with gardening — is called 71 Degrees North and follows Gavin on an expedition in Norway.

Gavin announced his garden plan in October 2009 but the RHS did not include his design on a list of gardens announced last month for the 25-29 May event.

Half the space of the garden would be have been covered, as it will eventually become an outdoor drinking and smoking area at the airport.

Gavin's garden was still being assessed by the RHS last week, when RHS chief assessor Andrew Wilson said: "Diarmuid Gavin always has interesting planting and the combination of architecture and architectural planting will come off."

Fellow designer Roger Platts, who is designing the show sponsor M&G Investments show garden at Chelsea said last week that Gavin was to be opposite him at the hospital end of the main avenue at Chelsea 2010 and he "would be interested to see what he'll be doing".

The RHS is now seeking a sponsored garden to fill the gap left by Gavin.

A RHS representative said last week that the society would decide on whether they will accept Gavin's design in the next two or three weeks: "Creating a show garden at the world's premier gardening event is a major feat and after the selection process designers still have things to consider like feedback from the panel, boundary walls and the size of their site, resulting in ongoing discussions and planning between the designers and the RHS."  

But the RHS added the next week: "Due to filming commitments in Norway, Diarmuid was unable to commit to the 2010 RHS Chelsea Flower Show. We'll look forward to welcoming Diarmuid to future shows and in the meantime are excited about the tremendous line-up of designers bringing an eclectic mix of world-class gardens to the 2010 show."

The garden would have been Gavin's 6th at Chelsea since his 1995 debut. He has never won a gold medal.

Gavin only won bronze for his 2008 Oceanico Garden, designed with Sir Terence Conran and afterwards blamed himself for Chelsea "losing its way". He added than: "It will be a while before I go back to Chelsea. It's a brilliant show but it's getting a bit silly with all the money being spent on it meaning the relevance for visitors and viewers is getting less."

He said late last year: "I've been commissioned to design a garden at Dublin Airport. If I go ahead with the Chelsea garden, my plan would be to create it at the showground and then move it to the airport afterwards."

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