Anyone who has a passing interest in flowers knows about the Chelsea Flower show. But this year, the prestigious and regal flower show unleashed its slightly unruly and a little less 'proper' sibling, the Chelsea Fringe Festival.

Over three weeks, the Chelsea Fringe spread the gardening love throughout the streets of London. From pavement gardens to a roving beer garden, to large-scale art installations ... the festival provided opportunities for expression through the medium of plants and gardens. Refreshingly, and in total contrast to the rigorously regulated Chelsea Flower Show, the Fringe had a stridently open door policy where anyone could join in, as long as the submission involved gardens in one way or another.

There were more than 80 events, installations, performances and exhibitions scattered throughout the city. Wandering the streets, I discovered a few gems, especially this installation in a former meat packing warehouse in London (see images below).

Full of timber pallets overflowing with mint plants, the Garden of Disorientation was a venue for talks about all things green from artists, architects and garden designers as well as being a mojito bar (the drinks use fresh mint harvested from the garden), a small gallery and a lovely scented oasis in central London. The success of the installation lay in the transformation of the space from somewhere that used to house animal carcasses, to a living and breathing green oasis, while still retaining an essence of its industrial past.

Another great event included in the Fringe festival was the rather provocatively-named Pimp Your Pavement campaign. Launched by guerrilla gardener Richard Reynolds, this campaign was designed to activate more people to get involved in greening their street and to encourage authorities to permit and facilitate these creations. For the festival, they created a map of pavement gardens they had discovered or made, encouraging people to wander the streets and get inspired. The spaces involved anything from miniature pavement gardens to lavender production gardens on roundabouts.

The festival, which closed last weekend, was a huge success. And, according to festival director Tim Richardson, it will continue as an annual, and possibly even an international, event. Sydney, how about it?