RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022, Royal Hospital Chelsea

Although the big show gardens at Chelsea give an unattainable level – for most of us – of what you can do with a garden with a big budget there’s plenty of inspiration for even the tiniest outdoor space and the most modest budget – check out the lush, imaginative plantings in the Balcony and Container Gardens.

Favourite flowers

Every year some species are seen in many different gardens at the Show. This year these were the fluffy magenta cirsium (Still Garden, gold medal; Jay Day, bronze medal), multiple-flowered spires of verbascum in peachy, buff shades (in Hackney-based charity Core Arts' Front Garden Revolution Garden, gold medal), the spherical heads of alliums, especially in white (The Perennial Garden ‘With Love’, silver medal; BBC Studios Our Green Planet and RHS Bee Garden), tubular-flowered towering foxgloves, and flat-petalled orange geums.


Foxgloves, verbascum, geums, alliums and cirsium in the BBC Studios Our Green Planet and RHS Bee Garden. Photo: ©Adrienne Wyper

Trends to take away

This year’s theme is wild and natural spaces, so there are plenty of plants that are native to the UK – including some wild flowers, such as buttercups, that some might identify as weeds – and wildlife-friendly gardens paying particular attention to attracting pollinators (this writer has never seen so many bees at Chelsea!), and naturalistic planting designs throughout. Best in show, and a gold medal, went to A Rewilding Britain Landscape garden, featuring a stream, messy drifts of wild flowers, a dam of logs chewed by beavers, and a beaver soundtrack, too. There are only a couple of formal gardens of the type more usually seen here, including The Perennial Garden, With Love, planted in blocks of burgundy and white flowers such as peonies, foxgloves and alliums, with a lawn, backed by a neon sign quoting Tennyson: 'If I had a flower every time I thought of you'.

Blue was probably the colour most in evidence, in varying shades, teamed with white, or often with orange, seen in Morris & Co (gold medal), The Enchanted Rain Garden (silver gilt), Wild Kitchen Garden (silver gilt) and The RNLI Garden (gold). Burgundy and lime cropped up together too, in The Mind Garden (gold medal), for example.

Water, whether a scene-stealing cascade as in the Medite Smartply Building the Future Garden (gold medal), or a still pool, as in the ‘dye baths’ of A Textile Garden for Fashion Revolution (silver gilt medal), water adds life to a garden (quite literally; birds drink from it and wash in it). It reflects the sky and surrounding plants, and the trickling, gurgling, gushing or splashing sound, as heard in the Mandala, Meditation and Mindfulness Garden (silver medal, below), is soothing. More elaborate water features add a sculptural element, too.

A piece of paradise

One theme recurring in many show gardens was the beneficial effect that spending time in nature has on mental wellbeing. That resonates for many of us who sought solace in outdoor spaces during the pandemic.

In the Container gardens category, the Mandala, Meditation and Mindfulness Garden (below) offers a safe haven to spend time sitting and meditating, listening to the tranquil water, bees humming and birds singing – a calm and restful but rejuvenating space. A muted palette of soft, subtle pinks is soothing, as is the cocooning seating.


Calming shades in the Mandala, Meditation and Mindfulness Garden. Photo: ©Adrienne Wyper

Eight-time medal winner, Andy Sturgeon, who designed the Mind Garden, with curved walls to enclose and bring people together with grass-rich meadow planting and birch trees, for the mental health charity described it as 'a sanctuary, a place to sit, share and listen'.

Showstoppers

There’s nothing quite so outrageous as some of the spectacles seen at previous Shows, such as twirling trees, suspended gardens, living QR codes and on-demand mist, but this Show’s simpler pleasures are just as stunning, and feel appropriate for these post-pandemic, economically uncertain times.

Many gardens this year carry a strong message, and in the Plantman’s Ice Garden (silver-gilt medal) stands a 10-foot, 15-tonne ice cube, which will melt slowly during the five-day show as a symbolic representation of climate change, revealing a hidden plant at the centre of the frozen block.


Photo: ©Adrienne Wyper

If you follow the Instagram trend of tablescaping, seek out this theme in the flower-arranging section in the Great Pavilion for some truly OTT displays, such as this rich red and pink Reconnect by Norris Floristry, below.


Photo: ©Adrienne Wyper

Also in the Great Pavilion, don't forget the scents as well as the sights. Indulge in a treat for the senses by inhaling the almost overpowering fragrance coming from the David Austin roses display, and also Harts Nursery’s lilies.

Enjoy all the flora of four seasons in one day, from daffodils to autumn foliage, and plants for every environment all in one place, from shade-loving ferns to sun-worshipping cacti.

In honour of the Queen's 70 years on the throne, and her unwavering support for the Chelsea Flower Show, rarely missing one, revel in the royal floral tributes in honour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, from florist Simon Lycett’s silhouette of the Queen arranged with 70 terracotta pots, and planted with lily of the valley, one of the Queen’s favourite plants which featured in her Coronation bouquet, to a special Jubilee orchid, to a pretty multi-layered installation by floral designers Veevers Carter featuring flowers including fresh delphiniums, emulating the colours and planting found near the Royal Family’s Balmoral Castle.

If you can't make it to the Show in person, catch up on the BBC's coverage on iPlayer here.