LONDON: It may have got most of the publicity, but the bendy plasticine solution to urban gardening fashioned by resolutely ungreen-fingered Top Gear presenter James May failed to move the judges at the Chelsea Flower Show today.

Maybe the fact that it didn't contain a single live plant was a factor in their decision not to grant an official award.

May's efforts did not go totally unrecognised however, as the judges proved they had a sense of humour by awarding him a plasticine gold medal and a "special letter" of commendation.

A Royal Horticultural Society spokeswoman said it was not uncommon for entrants to other RHS shows to receive such letters and "in the case of James May, it is because it is in a class of its own … we have never had an entry like this before".

Instead, after days of pouring manure on MPs' reputations by publishing their expenses' claims, the Daily Telegraph came up roses, sponsoring the best show garden and winning a coveted gold medal from the Royal Horticultural Society.

Using hard-wearing materials, including granite, the garden's green walls and hedges are said to ensure privacy – in stark contrast to the newspaper's revelations about the secrets in the House of Commons.

The garden combines the artistry of the traditional cottage with the discipline of Swedish modernism, reflected in the nationality of its designer, landscape architect Ulf Nordfjell, who won a gold medal in 2007 for his celebration of the botanist Carl Linnaeus.

"To be a foreigner in this country and being so much loved it's a tremendous success," he said.

"All the press and media and public are really loving what I am doing so I am very pleased about that."

Nordfjell said he had wanted to include a growing-food element, which is traditional in British cottage gardens, but chose not to because it was going to make the garden too complex.

Next year, however, he thinks he won't enter the Chelsea competition. "I need a break … last time I said I'd never do Chelsea again because it was so exhausting, but this year has been such a pleasure."

Not all the visitors were complimentary about his design. One remarked that the glass building in the garden "looked like a shop", and opinions were divided about the single row of white irises along one border. But others were grabbing the plant list to buy the whole lot in a bid to recreate Nordfjell's plans in their own gardens.

The Telegraph's triumph was among eight section winners and 60 gold medals announced at Chelsea, where there are 42 gardens and hundreds of other exhibits.

The most creative gardens were said to be the perfume garden, which traces through its choice of plants the development of scent from the 16th century, and the simple green escape of designer Paul Hensey. The urban garden award went to designer Kate Gould's "eco chic" creation of a small and cosy space for cities.

Gould, in her third Chelsea garden, used items that most other designers throw out – scaffold poles and boards discarded by builders, for instance.Her green wall – a theme of this year's show – is attracting a lot of interest from visitors. "We planted the wall in February and hung it vertically two weeks after that. It was cut back twice because it was so rampant," she said.

A taste of Fenland secured the best courtyard garden which used only reclaimed, recycled or discarded materials.

Jane Besser, who created the work with Stephen Hall, was inspired to become a garden designer after she grew some sweet peas in 2003 and thought "this is brilliant". Two years later she gave up her job as a fitness consultant and began designing gardens.

In this, Besser's first Chelsea show, the theme of her garden is alchemy, and things have certainly turned to gold.

The salvaged materials include a corrugated iron roof on the garden hut which will be re-used to patch up a barn once it has served its purpose at Chelsea. Other winners included the Cayman Islands department of tourism and Newington Nurseries, which won the president's most creative award.

The Cayman entry had created an "underwater" garden, with planting to look like coral amid sand, rocks and shells. Among others receiving gold awards for their exhibits was Jekka McVicar, despite the appearance of a gnome – a banned garden ornament at Chelsea – on her herb garden stand.

Her mascot, Borage, went into hiding after being spotted by officials, allowing McVicar to scoop her 14th gold at Chelsea.

Displays of tulips, hostas, bonsai trees, fungi and David Domoney's underwater plants stand with piranhas all won gold medals.

Some 157,000 visitors will go through the gates at the event, which runs until Saturday.