As the RHS Chelsea Flower Show draws to a close each year, garden lovers can reflect on the show’s main theme. The answer these days is that usually there isn’t just one main theme. Instead, Chelsea continues to be an eclectic, sumptuous and sometimes eccentric window on world gardening, ranging effortlessly from herbaceous borders to fynbos, from exotic Barbados to traditional Japan.
George Plumptre rounds up his six favourite themes at this year’s showcase.
Trend 1: Natural Landscapes
Celebrating natural landscapes and plants’ ability to regenerate in the toughest of conditions were taken to the extreme in the replication of a Maltese quarry.
The M&G Garden, Designed by James Basson
The Royal Bank of Canada Garden, Designed by Charlotte Harris
Trend 2: New Plant Choices
Plants from arid and drought-challenged areas such as the Western Cape, California and Mexico made a dazzling showcase of what can be achieved living in water-threatened conditions.
‘Inland Homes: Beneath a Mexican Sky’, Designed by Manoj Malde
South African National Biodiversity Institute, Kirstenbosch
Trend 3: Urban Gardening
For many people, gardens in cities are the most important contemporary story. Indoor plants, bold shapes and greening our immediate living space were at the forefront this year.
‘The quarry is not supposed to be pretty. It is stark and monumentally brutal’ – James Basson, Best in Show
‘City Living’, Designed by Kate Gould
Trend 4: Garden Geometries
The adventurous balance of planting and decorative hard landscape features played on geometric shapes and pattern to give seasonal permanence.
‘Breaking Ground’, Designed by Andrew
Wilson and Gavin McWilliams
Trend 5: Tradition Remix
Pretty, traditional planting combinations and topiary shapes of yesteryear were reinterpreted with a focus on soft mounded forms and loosely planted perennials.
The Morgan Stanley Garden, Designed by Chris Beardshaw
The Silk Road Garden, Cheng Du, China, Designed by Laurie Chetwood and Patrick Collins
Trend 6: Well-matched Neighbours
In contrast to years gone by, it was the combination of perennials and the natural associations between different plants, rather than individual specimens, that was one of the best features of this year’s show.
Featured image
Japanese designer Kazuyuki Ishihara’s ‘No Wall, No War’ garden, a gold medal winner at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, comprised a hut with transparent walls and floors that rise from the water on stilts over a garden of impeccable harmony.
Photography
Marianne Majerus
