NOTES on. design // RHS Chelsea preview 2023
Three weeks to go until this year's Chelsea Flower Show bursts into bloom, with the restoration of the mind, body, and the environment as the over-riding theme
Whether you’re heading to this year’s Chelsea Flower Show or not it’s always worth catching up with what’s going on from the bigger ‘Show Gardens’ (on the main avenue, innovative designs from largely veteran names), ‘Sanctuary Gardens’ (themed around gardening for wellbeing including sustainability and wildlife), and ‘All About Plants’ gardens (made in collaboration with a UK charity with at least 80 percent planting also highlighting the work of specialist growers) to the smaller ‘Balcony’ ‘Container’ themed affairs. This being the botanical world – which is the wider world after all – what goes on at Chelsea often draws a parallel with issues arising in other walks of life.
As such, many of the gardens have a restorative theme and are sponsored by Project Giving Back, an initiative set up in response to the pandemic that gives other charitable organisations the opportunity to team up with designers – established and new – to create gardens that raise awareness of their cause, through event attendance and press coverage, and highlight the importance of plants and nature for health, wellbeing, and the environment at the same time. The idea is that gardens are then relocated to other spaces around the UK to continue their work giving back, so this is another crucial part of the design concept.
For a full list of gardens on show at Chelsea this year and the details of 70 specialist nurseries exhibiting in the central pavilion, visit the RHS website or detailed write ups by in the know writers and publications such as Gardens Illustrated. You can also order a show programme to be delivered to your home before the event begins. Conceptually, and on a personal level in some cases, I’m looking forward to the following but on the day, some gardens – or even bits of planting – just draw you intuitively so it pays to keep an open mind.
Centrepoint Garden by Cleve West for the UK’s leading homelessness charity, exploring notions of home and how nature reclaims.
Horiato’s Garden by Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg, Chelsea’s first wheelchair accessible garden, to be relocated in the Princess Royal Spinal Injuries Centre in Sheffield.
The Royal Entomological Society’s Garden by Tom Massey (see also NOTES from. the bookshelf below), with planting designed for a wide range of beneficial insects and an insect lab at its heart.
Memoria and GreenAcres Transcendence Garden by Gavin McWilliam and Andrew Wilson that explores gardens and their role in the grieving process.
Choose Love Garden by Jane Porter showing how important gardens are to displaced people including refugees living in a camp in Samos, Greece.
The Natural Affinity Garden for Aspens by Camellia Taylor exploring how gardens help those living with neurodiversity such as Autism.
The School Food Matters Garden by Harry Holding showcasing the awe and wonder you feel as a child. This one is particularly interesting to me through my work with our local school and the funding we just received from School Food Matters to improve the edible aspect of our space.
Hamptons Mediterranean Garden by Filippo Dester illustrating how drought-friendly Mediterranean plants can be incorporated into other outdoor spaces.
Zen Garden by Kazuyuki Ishihara because I just love Japanese gardens! This one is inspired by traditional satoyama landscapes found in the foothills of Japan and is designed to be a refreshing place in which to live a simplified life.