Sixteen small and large show gardens plus a rare succulent garden on indoor, South African plants, a spectacle created by the show sponsor The Newt in Somerset, not to mention the balcony gardens, the container gardens and the indoor gardens means that every visitor is going to experience horticultural overload in every way possible. It’s like diving into a huge botanical pool of fabulous garden design ideas, dream plants and garden themed shopping opportunities that will literally blow your mind. It’s like a dream that you never want to wake from and you will keep remembering things you saw and plants that you loved, for years to come.
We’ve picked five show gardens to give you a taste of this year’s show.
The Glasshouse Garden (Show Garden)
You would be forgiven for thinking that this garden features a sumptuous glasshouse, when in fact it is designed to highlight and bring to attention the work of a social enterprise, The Glasshouse that offers second chances through horticultural training to women based in UK prisons, harnessing the power of plants to improve metal and physical wellbeing. Designed by Jo Thompson, it’s an immersive space with a translucent, elliptical pavilion of acrylic, pivoting screens, at its heart surrounded by sensory delights. Jewel-like flowers, rich fragrance and the trickle of water from a rill that weaves its way through the garden, ending in a pool of tranquillity; something to aspire to at the end of the journey. It’s richly planted with lush foliage and fabulous flowering plants including roses, to create an evocative and timeless effect with an almost romantic feel.
The garden offers an insight into this work and celebrates the transformative effect of second chances through horticulture, offering women approaching the end of their prison sentence a sense of purpose and self-belief and hope. The finished garden will end its journey at a women’s prison, completing the cycle.
The Avanade Intelligent Garden Show Garden (Show Garden)
In a world where instancy and low maintenance are the buzz words of life, this garden designed by Tom Massey harnesses hort-tech in a never-before-seen Chelsea show garden first. The garden itself is a snapshot into the future, a garden powered by AI, so that the plants’ survival is not dependent on newbie gardeners but instead is monitored and managed by AI, providing tailored plant care. It could be the saving grace for urban trees that often succumb to poor maintenance or weather issues in their first year. The plants are fitted with sensors that monitor the soil moisture, informing the tech that the tree needs a drink or some tender loving care.
It’s designed as a food forest of dappled woodland blending into a meadow and a tranquil pool, all desired aesthetics that need a little care and attention and where AI support could ensure the dreams are achievable. While you don’t exactly talk to the trees, beneath the soil the mycelium network talks to the trees and is reflected in the patterns of the earthy pavilion. Will it drive controversy and discussion like James May’s plasticine creation in 2009 when the judges rose to the challenge and awarded a plasticine medal?? Could this be the garden that gets a virtual medal, or maybe an award from a talking tree?? It will certainly generate discussion and offer a restful visual impression that hides its more technical approach to gardening.
The Addleshaw Goddard: Freedom to Flourish Garden (Small Show Garden)
If ever there was a need for a space to slow down and focus on nature, it is now. We need to make ‘being too busy’ an antisocial behaviour and learn to slow down. This garden designed by Joe and Laura Carey embrace’s nature’s call for an unhurried pace of life to boost our mental health and support nature. It takes its inspiration from the salt marshes and natural landscape of North Norfolk, and is embellished with natural materials packed into gabions to represent coastal cliffs and to provide natural nesting places for wildlife.
The sandy-toned planting palette is created with flowering grasses, bladder campion (Silene vulgaris) and the peeling reddy brown/grey bark and flower calyxes of Seven Son Flower Trees (Heptacodium miconioides), and then accentuated with layers of lilac and indigo flowers of false indigo (Baptisa australis), apricot evening primrose (Oenothera) and purple sweet rocket (Hesperis matronalis).
The borders feature plants that grow wild in the Norfolk landscape like glaucous leaved fleabane (Erigeron glaucus ‘Sea Breeze) and sea kale (Crambe maritima). It’s an inspired space that replicates the feel of a coastal sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of life.
Boodles Raindance Garden (Small Show Garden)
Every garden needs water and this charming garden exemplifies different ways to transform your garden with its wonderful watery presence.
Designed by Dr Catherine MacDonald, the garden marks the 25th anniversary of a jewellery collection named ‘Raindance’ and is inspired by the way water impacts on stone.
There’s a lush backdrop of ferns seasoned with the pale papery green and white flowers of Astrantia ‘Shaggy’ and the stunning and scented, rose-pink flowers of peony ‘Noémie Demay’.
Rainwater is captured and directed off the domed roof pavilion in to channels that feed a circular rill creating the desired and effective ‘dance of rain on water’.
The colour scheme blends metals, water and plants and uses stark platinum steel water features and a zinc roofed pavilion, that together create a restful and serene ambience that is inspirational and aspirational for a calming tranquil garden space.
The King’s Trust Garden: Seeding Success (Show Garden)
Life isn’t easy. Our challenging world can be a real test, but when the going gets tough, the tough get going. And that’s the message and theme of this garden, designed by Joe Perkins for The King’s Trust. It’s inspired by the resilience of young people who find ways to overcome adversity to create and build fulfilling lives. Young people are tenacious and adaptable finding ways to thrive and flourish in challenging conditions. This is reflected by seeds and plants that find ways to grow, colonise and thrive in changing conditions against the odds. This garden highlights these parallels between pioneering plants and the resilience and adaptability of young people.
There’s a gentle flow of seeded plants through thus garden representing the natural effect of seed dispersal but also the concept of social mobility. It reflects the concepts and aims of The King’s Trust to enable young people to gain confidence and give them the support and opportunity that they need to succeed, learn new skills or find the right job.
A soft, muted colour scheme of silvery greys and greens have been created with drifts of grasses and perennials that surround low growing shrubs. Basalt paths lead into a colourful space that evokes joy and wonder, the end of the rainbow, representing the young people achieving their dreams, completing their journey into employment and a stable and fulfilling life.
