Pulling power of plants: Chelsea Flower Show 2018's best gardens, plant buys and gardeners to watch
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We are less than a week away from seeing the streets around Sloane Square erupt into bloom as shops and restaurants get into the spirit of the world’s greatest flower show, RHS Chelsea, which opens in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea on May 22.
With 10 main show gardens, eight artisan gardens and a new Space to Grow category perfect for Londoners with small plots, the annual bloomfest is in fine fettle.
It has even tempted design maestro Tom Stuart-Smith back for the first time in eight years.
So who are the medal contenders? What will be the talking points? And which plants will we all be rushing to buy after this year’s show?
BREAKING THROUGH THE ‘GRASS CEILING’
Half of this year’s gardens are designed by women, the greatest proportion in the show’s history.
There’s a lot of buzz around the M&G Garden, by Sarah Price, to win best in show. Her romantic, Mediterranean haven inspired by Monet features orange-purple rammed earth structures and luminous planting.
Another frontrunner is Jo Thompson who has created the Wedgwood Garden, a tea garden for a 21st-century woman, with a sculptural curved pavilion as the centerpiece.
IDEAS TO STEAL
The man with all the insider secrets on the show is Mark Straver, chief executive at Hortus Loci nursery near Hook in Hampshire, which has this year supplied plants to 11 of the gardens. Generally, planting is looser and wilder than in some years, he says.
Topiary is out but umbels are still in, especially purple wild carrot and airy white lace flower orlaya grandiflora.
Multistem trees remain in fashion, particularly those that give light, dappled shade, such as acer palmatums, cornus kousa, majestic ginkgos as in Tony Wood’s Urban Flow garden for Thames Water, and sophoras — check out the 20ft-high beauties in the Seedlip Garden.
ORANGE AND PURPLE ARE THE COLOURS OF THE SHOW
“Greens and whites are out and colours are in. Oranges, rusts and reds are popular, and all shades of pink and purple are big this year, too,” says Straver.
Plant geeks will be lusting after the delicate pink poppy papaver dubium ssp. lecoqii var. albiflorum and the sultry dark purple Laurens Grape poppy.
“Purple and orange combos, like Geum Mai Tai with Salvia Violette de Loire, are really big this year,” adds Straver.
But don’t put away your raised bed kits quite yet. There will be lots of vegetables and herbs on show, adds Straver, with an emphasis on organic growing.
THAT HEALING FEELING
Several gardens celebrate the healing power of plants. From Tom Massey’s Lemon Tree Trust Garden, inspired by the resilience of Syrian refugees, to Matt Keightley’s RHS Feel Good Garden and Chris Beardshaw’s Morgan Stanley Garden paying tribute to the work the NSPCC does with Childline, the potential for plants to enhance mood and aid recovery is a strong theme at Chelsea this year.
COULD CHELSEA HELP TO CLEAN UP LONDON?
Hay-Joung Hwang’s Eco-city Garden for LG Electronics imagines a high-rise residential block that reduces air pollution through specially selected trees and shrubs, with 13 square metres of moss that absorbs nasties from the air.
When passers-by tread on the paving slabs in the West End Secret Garden by Kate Gould, electricity is generated, powering a pump that circulates fresh air and a welcome breeze.
AND THE MEDAL FOR THE QUIRKIEST IDEA GOES TO…
Dr Catherine MacDonald will be hoping for a ha-pea ending for her Seedlip Garden made entirely of plants from the pea family.
And here’s an odd one — burning your plants on purpose. It is not a trend likely to catch on in London, but it will be interesting to see how newcomer Jonathan Snow’s recreation of the scorched fynbos landscape works in the Trailfinder’s South African Wine Estate Show Garden.
In the Artisan Gardens category, fans of Scandi-noir and birch twigs will be drawn to the Viking Cruises Wellness Garden based around a Nordic spa where you can relax in nature, complete with plunge pool, designed by Paul Hervey-Brookes.
On a more serious note, the Pearlfisher Garden recreates the ocean floor to highlight the effect of plastic waste.
And who could resist a garden based on a cricket pitch? Sarah Eberle’s British Council: India Garden celebrates India and the UK’s shared love of the game with an eye-catching design complete with giant stumps and a central wicket. Howzat!
RHS Chelsea Flower Show runs from May 22-26 at Royal Hospital Chelsea