Trending at Chelsea 2019

03/06/2019 News & Musings

From John and Kate’s recent visit, details of what was trending at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2019…

THE COLOUR PURPLE:
Varying shades of purple plants were everywhere you looked in the show gardens, from the deepest hues to the palest mauves, often placed in borders amongst stunning pink plants from the hottest bright shades to the softer more delicate pinks.

The Warner’s Distillery Garden by designer Helen Elks-Smith.

The Resilience Garden by designer Sarah Eberle.

The Donkey Sanctuary: Donkeys Matter by designers Christina Williams and Annie Prebensen.

TREES:
Although it’s called The Chelsea Flower Show, trees seemed to be just as important to the designers this year and went hand in hand with the naturalistic planting seen throughout the gardens. They remind us of the importance of green spaces to our physical and mental wellbeing and how essential trees are in maintaining our ecosystems.

The RHS Back To Nature Garden – designed by The Duchess of Cambridge with Andree Davies and Adam White around ‘Childhood Memories’. Enveloped by a circle of trees the garden can only be viewed by going inside heightening the magical feel.

Andy Sturgeon’s the M&G garden where the planting and abundance of trees made you feel you were entering a woodland that has existed forever.

Seemingly established trees could be seen in Mark Gregory’s garden helping to re-create the landscape of Yorkshire. He was overheard saying that as many as possible will be donated to new locations after the show.

FOXGLOVES:
Seemed to be one of the plants of the moment cropping up in most of the show gardens. They give immediate impact with their tall stems and come in a surprising array of colours.

This gorgeous display was in the Great Pavilion.

Another beautiful display in the Great Pavilion.

Foxgloves planted in the Welcome to Yorkshire Garden.

GARDEN ACCESSORIES:
The attraction for many visitors at Chelsea – myself included – is to look forward to browsing the varied and tempting garden accessory stands. Lugging home new purchases via the tube and train seems to have become rather a tradition!

This year it had to be these terracotta glass lanterns which have already been put up in my summer house ready for the summer evenings ahead.

The Straysparks stand displayed beautiful delicate metal sculptures, I particularly liked those which were embellished with gold/bronze finishes. They were in keeping with The Morgan Stanley Garden where Chris Beardshaw played with the power of reflection by installing a gold sphere like sculpture in the centre of the planting.

A metal bench with a fish shaped back caught my eye – designed by Christopher Lisney.

PERFECTION…
…is something you take for granted at Chelsea, whether in the designers’ gardens or the plants in the Great Pavilion. It can be summed up here in this stunning, Gold award winning floral crown arrangement by Helen Pannitt. It was designed to celebrate 200 years since the birth of Queen Victoria on 24 May 1819 and quite literally took your breath away. Roll on next year…

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