THE LAST WORD
The planting this year definitely took on darker tones of mauves and burgundy across many of the gardens and, combined with purples and deeper pinks, these were the colours which dominated.
Monty Don and Jamie Butterworth’s ‘Dog Garden’ exemplified these colours in Lupinus ‘Masterpiece’, Papaver somniferum ‘Lauren’s Grape’, Baptisia ‘Burgundy Blast’, and Cirsium rivulare ‘Atropurpureum’.
Cirsium, I have to say, was the plant of the moment, popping up in almost every garden at the show. It is a stylish upright perennial with spherical, deep red flower-heads that almost looks like a mini thistle.
Whilst last year’s Chelsea palette seemed more muted, bold colours abounded this year, no more so than in Jo Thompson’s Gold medal winning ‘The Glasshouse Garden’ which showcased an abundance of roses in jewel-like colours including Rosa ‘Tuscany Superb’, Rosa ‘Charles de Mills’, and Rosa ‘Emma Bridgewater’. The planting colours were inspired by the notion of ‘strong beauty’ in a palette of deep reds and muted pinks.
Fabulous foxgloves, as always, appeared throughout the show gardens at RHS Chelsea bringing height and softening hard landscaping.
The Garden of the Future, designed by Matthew Butler & Josh Parker, was set in the near future, in a scenario where climate threats are increasing as we experience higher-than-average temperatures, more extreme weather, periods of drought, and sudden, heavy rainfall.
Many of the people globally most affected by climate change are those who rely on the land to grow food and crops, and this garden aimed to support our planet and empower farmers to harness innovation to grow plants and crops in a more sustainable, climate-resilient way.
Planting spilled over the roof of the rammed-earth building surrounded by beds of climate-resilient crops and resilient planting in a pink, purple, and white palette. A dip tank made up part of a system of rainwater harvesting, integral to the climate-friendly design.
It was also interesting to see the use of AI on a Chelsea Show Garden. The Avanade Intelligent Garden, an urban forest garden designed to support urban trees, was equipped with sensors that track tree health by monitoring growth, sap flow, soil conditions, air quality, and weather patterns. AI analyses this data, spotting trends and predicting future conditions to provide simple, actionable advice, alerting their custodians if they anticipate issues like over or under-watering.
The ADHD Foundation Garden celebrated neurodiversity in a richly layered garden which used a uniquely shaped tree, shrubs, and planting combinations representing biodiversity as a mirror to human diversity. Inspired by designer Katy Terry’s own ADHD diagnosis, the design invites visitors to ‘think differently about thinking differently’.
Umbrella figures created by David Begbie represented the ADHD foundation’s emblem of inclusivity and added interest to lift the eye upwards, whilst the umbrella motive was also woven through the planting in the selection of umbellifers and clusters of small flowers forming a shape like an umbrella.
The SongBird Survival Garden designed by Nicola Oakey centred around the narrative of a bird’s daily life and the three elements of shelter, water, and food. The design was inspired by the movement and perspective of a bird, foraging for food and water while moving between points of shelter and safety. Two pathways weaved between layers of planting, mimicking how birds prefer to move through a network of cover.
So was this year’s pilgrimage to RHS Chelsea Flower Show worth it?
It was, because our Scottish gardens and garden designers represented themselves so well. From Nigel Dunnett’s ‘Hospitalfield Arts Garden’ which highlighted the coastal sand dune landscape on the east coast of Scotland in its resilient coastal planting, to Ryan McMahon’s ‘Seawilding Garden’ which looked like it had been hewn out of the wild and beautiful coastal landscape at Loch Craignish and showcased that fascinating seagrass front and centre of the display.
My heart though was stolen by ‘The Down’s Syndrome Scotland’ garden, not least because they brought the party. Manned not only by designers Nick Burton and Duncan Hall, and Chief Executive of Down’s Syndrome Scotland, Eddie McConnell, the garden abounded in joy as members of the Down’s syndrome community travelled from Scotland to chat to visitors, and to reduce me to tears when they sang as Choir 21, surrounded by all the vibrant colours of the garden and supported by Ken McCluskey and Douglas MacIntyre of The Bluebells and Altered Images singer Clare Grogan.
Their set finished with their rendition of The Bluebells 1993 number one hit, ‘Young at Heart’, belting across the planting at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and I hope it carried their message far and wide.
You can follow our Editor’s garden and gardening on her Instagram feed to keep up with what she loves in the garden.