Chelsea is always inspirational but there are some years when the excitement ramps up a notch, and this is one of those years. There are so many superb show gardens to steal ideas from, so many important messages to absorb, that it has been difficult to narrow it down. The plantsmanship is breathtaking, the designs imaginative and the themes thought-provoking, many of the gardens demonstrating how we can garden more sustainably in this era of climate change. From Cleve West’s atmospheric ruined house to Chris Beardshaw’s immaculately planted woodland glade, there is so much at the show to learn from. Here is my pick of the crop.
Sarah Price’s garden for Nurture Landscapes gets my top vote. Her romantic, exquisitely beautiful planting scheme is inspired by the work of Cedric Morris, and the garden is like a living painting itself, with the irises that Cedric raised at his home Benton End taking centre stage. He also had collections of aeoniums which feature in the garden too, their dark hues contrasting with the creamy browns and lilacs of the irises, and their sculptural forms casting shadows on the soft-toned walls.
Sarah studied art before she became a garden designer, and everywhere in this garden there is evidence of this natural cross-over. Some of the perimeter walls are made from reused canvases which have been painted using plant-based paint, and she has experimented by making sculptural planters and water bowls from reclaimed crushed brick, concrete and glass. Alternating with the canvases are highly textured straw bale walls rendered with lime mortar and coloured with natural pigments, and together they provide a pleasing backdrop to highlight the plants, including a tumbling wisteria and a trained Rosa mutabilis. Showcasing sustainable materials and demonstrating a low-impact, drought-tolerant planting scheme, this garden shows how satisfying - and attainable - it can be to make something beautiful from so little.
Cleve West also demonstrates the possibilities of making a garden from nothing, and challenges the very notion of what a garden can be. Designed for the homeless charity Centrepoint, his garden shows what can happen if nature takes over an abandoned site, in this case the footprint of a derelict Victorian house.
The uprooted tree at the front of the garden offers a metaphor for the challenges faced by young people when their world becomes uprooted, and all that is left of the house is an open room with a hearth, the symbol of warm family life. Piles of rubble have been colonised by grasses and plants that we think of as weeds, but Cleve is challenging us to think beyond these preconceptions and see the beauty in this untamed space where wildlife proliferates.
Harris Bugg’s design for Horatio’s Garden will be relocated after the show to the spinal cord injuries centre at the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, where it will become the eighth Horatio’s Garden to be built by the charity. This quiet, immersive therapeutic space shows how a garden can be so beneficial to the healing process - but there are also ideas here for ordinary gardeners to take away.
The simple, shingle-clad pavilion frames beautiful vignettes of the garden, carefully orchestrated to show sculptural trunks and architectural foliage, as well as a roof light to connect patients to the tree canopy. A central river birch and multi-stemmed field maples provide dappled shade for the woodland edge planting, rich in texture and with dashes of colour from Iris sibirica ‘Silver Edge’, Cirsium ‘Trevor’s Blue Wonder’ and Smyrnium perfoliatum.
Some of the most interesting plants can be found on two gardens associated with Bleddyn and Sue Wynn Jones of Crug Farm Plants in Wales. This pioneering couple traveled around Korea 30 years ago to discover plants that were new to cultivation in the UK, and some of these can be seen in a garden by Korean artist Jihae Hwang. Her garden is an evocation of the Jiri Mountains in Korea, complete with a rocky ravine and tumbling stream. Here are some fascinating, statuesque plants that you may never have heard of, like Synellesis palmata and Sanguisorba hakusanensis, many of them edible with medicinal properties.
The Samaritans Garden designed by Darren Hawkes features a grove of stunning aralias, another speciality at Crug Farm. Darren’s interesting planting scheme focuses on leaf shape and texture, leading the eye from plant to plant amongst a dramatic sculptural framework constructed from reclaimed concrete and rusted steel.
Best of the rest
The Boodles Best of British Garden by Tom Hoblyn is inspired in part by the pre-Raphaelite painting Ophelia by John Everett Millais. The garden has a finely tuned and sensual planting scheme crowned by a spectacular pavilion by Cox London.
The Hamptons Garden by Filippo Dester features a fabulous outdoor kitchen and harmonious Mediterranean planting. Full of ideas for an urban plot, it also has a a simple water canal and secluded seating areas.
The Biophilia Garden by Chelsea veteran Kazuyuki Ishihara is as astonishing as ever, and worth at least five minutes of contemplation to appreciate its detail. The mossy mounds and intricately placed acers have literally been tweezered into place with the ultimate care and precision.
The Viking Balcony Garden by Christina Cobb is inspirational for anyone with a small outdoor space. With the backdrop of an elegant shingle-clad wall, the garden has a series of elegant modular planters, a sofa made from recycled materials and a wall-hung cedar wood plant theatre from Bud to Seed (my own website shop).
The covetable new Bothy Shepherd’s Hut from Plankbridge can be seen in the middle of the pavilion, cocooned by pretty meadow planting. This elegant hut is inspired by the old fashioned bothy and is designed as a garden retreat, with an oak stable door and a bespoke writing desk-cum-potting bench.
