There’s a huge diversity of gardens at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show from small balcony and container gardens to the magnificent show gardens. And everything in between. Some are sharing powerful messages, supporting lesser-known charities or simply presenting our innermost secret garden dreams in perfect detail. Here are five to look out for whether you are watching on the telly or visiting in person.
The Elsewhere Garden – Teapot trust
Art enables us to explore our inner emotions and feelings. It’s especially important for children to escape into art to formalise coping strategies when life throws curve balls. The Elsewhere Garden (see main image) is a bright and eclectic place, a fairyland of vivid colour and exuberance inspired by garden travels to Oz and Wonderland.
It highlights the power of art in unlocking imagination. The bright, dolly mixture colours of candelabra primulas delineate a stream, while colourful panels feature childlike artwork amidst kinetic sculpture and the art of sound.
Designed by Semple Begg – www.semplebegg.com
Teapot Trust – www.teapot-trust.org
The Royal Entomological Society Garden
Wildlife and in particular insects are in focus within this garden on main avenue. The idea is to showcase ways gardens be used to create valuable garden elements for wildlife. It’s infused with secret habitats that can be replicated in gardens large or small to support biodiversity in powerful ways. Things like free standing and flowing water, dead wood, rammed earth floors and rubble. Plants, including the less understood dandelions, clover, vetch and knapweed support pollinators and other beneficial insects, providing good sources of food. While grasses provide shelter for insects and larval food for many moth and butterfly larvae. Centre stage is an insect eye inspired outdoor laboratory which will study the insects that visit the garden for the duration of the show.
Designed by Tom Massey – www.tommassey.co.uk
The Royal Entomological Society – www.royensoc.co.uk
Reading Room Balcony Garden
There’s nothing like a special place to sit and read and If you like books, The Folio Society’s Reading Room Garden is designed as the perfect escape. Reading can be a form of escapism and the design of this garden embraces that too, reflecting the transportive effect that books can have within its green sanctuary.
A bubbling water feature, whispering white noise neutralises the sounds of the city beyond. Lush planting envelops the space and creates a feeling of calm. The idea is to highlight the importance of reading for fun and as a way to improve wellbeing and mental health. I love the fact that it can be adapted to suit anyone, from a young family with children, to teenagers, a retired couple or the young professional seeking escape from technology and more.
Designed by Katherine Holland – www.katherine-holland.co.uk
Folio Society – www.foliosociety.com
The Savills Garden – Show Garden
This is probably the good life dream meets Raymond Blanc at The Pig. It evokes that true feel-good factor in design and style and aspirations. Who doesn’t dream of a walled garden complete with kitchen garden, dining area, potager and stunning glasshouse. It’s a tranquil retreat that tantalises the senses and evokes the anticipation of fine dining to come. A true plot to plate experience that will end its days teaching cookery skills to young people.
Designed by Mark Gregory – www.landformconsultants.co.uk
Savills – www.savills.co.uk
The CentrePoint Garden – Show Garden
It’s rare to have a garden at RHS Chelsea where the plants aren’t really the focus. But Cleve West’s CentrePoint Garden shares a powerful message. The derelict building is gently returning to the earth, with nature taking over the abandoned house and the garden beyond. It’s designed to be a visceral metaphor for what it means to be young and homeless. Together, the wildflowers and fallen tree form a thriving and evolving habitat that highlight the important role that a garden plays to make a house a home. It’s food for thought, to put the charity and the 120,000 homeless young people in the UK into the spotlight. Stop a while and tune it to hear the muffled recordings of children playing, dogs barking, clocks chiming and dinner table chit chat; familiar soundscapes that most people with homes take for granted, emanating from five bird boxes stationed around the garden.
Designed by Cleve West – www.clevewest.com
CentrePoint – www.centrepoint.org.uk
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