The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has announced some of its plant trends for this year’s show. The exotic peony is to be the star of the show with ferns, box hedges, oak trees and roses to feature prominently alongside weeds such as wild garlic. This year’s awaited themes include health and happiness, theatrical performances, futuristic vs traditional and paying homage to nature. Charismatic, peach-coloured Roald Dahl roses and Princess Charlotte chrysanthemums are among new plant launches at the show.
In the Great Pavilion, more than 100 specialist plant breeders, nurseries and societies will be creating breathtaking floral exhibits with plants at the peak of perfection. Among the highlights here, you can also find the interactive Discovery Zone with thought-provoking displays, many created by plant scientists and colleges, highlighting the significance of plant science.
Close by, the winners in the regional heats of the RHS Chelsea Florist of the Year, RHS Young Chelsea Florist of the Year and RHS Chelsea Floristry College of the Year will be crafting glorious floral displays. While outside in the Floral Design Studio, members of NAFAS will be competing for medals.
Celebrating HM The Queen’s 90th birthday
The Royal Horticultural Society will celebrate the 90th birthday of HM The Queen with floral arches at both the Bull Ring and London Gate entrances to the show. The primary arch, by leading Designer Shane Connolly, will span the iconic Bull Ring gate entrance, situated on the bank of the River Thames, while its sister arch will welcome visitors to the London Gate. The Bull Ring arch will be made using all British blooms, donated by UK growers, and will be installed with the help of design students from several UK colleges.
Plant trends
Peonies are a design favourite this year and roses will feature prominently throughout. Other popular flowers include alliums, achillea, foxgloves, irises, lavender and geum. Box hedging will feature in the plans of eight gardens, including Charlie Albone’s ‘The Husqvarna Garden’, many clipped alternatives to box, such as yew and bay, will also be used. Ferns are proving popular with some designers, while others have turned to plants such as bracken and horsetail to add beauty to a garden. Oak trees are a predominant feature being used by designers such as Cleve West.
New plants
David Austin Roses will launch the new English shrub rose, Roald Dahl, which is named in honour of the world’s number one storyteller and marks 100 years since his birth as part of the official Roald Dahl 100 celebrations. Appropriately, the blooms are peach-coloured, acknowledging Roald’s literary success James and the Giant Peach. The Roald Dahl rose is a remarkably free-flowering rose with blooms produced almost continuously.
The ‘Princess Charlotte’ chrysanthemum, by Deliflor, is launching in honour of the royal baby. Other new plants include Acer Moonrise by Hillier Nurseries, hosta Smiling Mouse by Hogarth Hostas and vibrant and deep red Cherry Kiss by Millais Nurseries.
Health, happiness and horticulture
Last year, the RHS Greening Grey Britain campaign was launched in response to the worrying trend of paving over front gardens. The growth of grey space and decline of green aggravates a range of environmental challenges. While the domination of grey hard surfaces have been shown to have a negative impact on our health and wellbeing.
The RHS has teamed up with award-winning Designer Ann-Marie Powell to champion the health and wellbeing benefits of horticulture. The charity believes everybody should have access to a garden and the joy and happiness it brings. Ann-Marie’s garden celebrates the wide range of plants and tactics gardeners can use to promote health and happiness.
Theatrical performances
RHS Chelsea provides an international stage for horticulturists and there’s even more of a theatrical feel to the show this year. At first glance, the Harrods Eccentric British Garden, designed by horticultural showman Diarmuid Gavin, appears to be a beautifully, gentle garden of terraces and topiary, but all of a sudden, the garden puts on a performance with mechanical buzzings and whirrings, a tower that erects, box balls that bob up and down and conical bay trees that begin to twirl.
Leading Designer Peter Eustance has created an artisan garden for disability charity, Papworth Trust. Inspired by world-renowned Percussionist, Dame Evelyn Glennie, and the ‘sea music’ produced by the women of the Vanuatu islands, Peter’s garden becomes a musical instrument. A water marimba – a giant set of musical bars – generate an acoustic pulse, while soft planting on either side of green oak monoliths will create a diaphanous, dancing screen that will sway to the music, with floral soloists adding to the horticultural concerto.
Futuristic vs traditional
Although RHS Chelsea represents the very forefront of horticultural design, it is also a showcase for the traditional horticultural landscape.
Hay Hwang has designed the Smart Garden for LG Electronics. With an alternative approach to reclaiming our outdoor spaces, Hay’s futuristic garden aims to bring technology to the forefront of design with lighting, water features and audiovisual aspects of the garden, controlled simply by the touch of a button.
Modern gardens include Paul Martin’s The Garden of Mindful Living, which represents a contemporary modern garden designed to be a calm space to reboot after a hectic day.
Jo Thompson’s garden for Qatari Diar represents a more traditional garden. Inspired by the first site of the Chelsea Barracks, and the architecture of the new development close to Royal Hospital, The Chelsea Barracks Garden features roses interspersed with perennial planting throughout.
More traditional horticultural landscapes can be seen in gardens such as Matthew Wilson’s Welcome to Yorkshire, which celebrates the diversity of plants in the region’s gardens with a series of beds.