Even More Gardens & Flowers to Delight at RHS Chelsea 2024 | Inspiration & Ideas on a New Tour

In the Great Pavilion, this gold medal winning exhibit, representing the rich and diverse Cape flora of South Africa, is a beautifully composed and imaginatively constructed display. Plants from different biomes of the Cape are showcased within separate enclaves, created by the sculptural curving clay walls with their baked cracked appearance. Most of the glorious profusion of proteas are hybrids, but the message is that wild As well as creating textural interest, the sinuous organic forms of the dividing walls show how curved landscape features are pleasing to the eye, generate comfort and a sense of ease. Research suggests that babies show a preference for curvature over linearity, and our brains have specialised hyper-complex cells that respond uniquely to curves, In our own gardens, this can be translated into circular viewing points rather than angular windows, and gently curving walls rather than linear ones. The reassuring qualities of curved structures are particularly evident in the Sanctuary Garden from the human rights charity Freedom From Torture, where sculptural willow streams are designed to enwrap and reassure survivors of torture visiting the garden. It will be relocated to the charity's headquarters in London. This garden is designed as a calming and nurturing space for healing through horticultural therapy, using scent from jasmine and roses, nourishing edible and medicinal plants, and a soothing planting palette with uplifting silvery Mediterranean foliage. There are the gently optimistic open faces of pink and purple opium poppies, and the sweetly starry pollinator-friendly tolbagia. Healing is facilitated through communal bonding in the Haven of the Sunken Seating Area, where survivors and their families and friends can come together and share food baked in the bread oven, topped with a textural addition of seeds from poppies. The Panathlon Joy Garden, designed as an accessible space for all, is an uplifting celebration of the way colour and form can be used to enhance our mood and personal energy. The vibrant panelled wall, which harnesses a sense of animated movement with the curving painted timber motifs, references the rainbow planting palette without overpowering it. The cushions are a masterclass in using garden accessories to connect the eye and brain to particular feature colours in borders. The expanse of the pale peachy terracotta painted backdrop is reminiscent of earthy sandy tones, and this provides warmth and a naturalness that stops the more brightly painted elements from looking garish. It also sits well with pools of harmonious and subtle planting under the sculptural curving trunks of plain trees. We felt the flowing sculptural design on the wall panels could work even in a two-dimensional painted form. The creation of sinuous lines on a wall in a small garden could be a really effective way to add dynamism to the space without having the trouble and expense of painting the entire structure surface. La Mia Venezia has convincingly Venetian personality packed into a small and perfectly formed welcoming space. Vibrant flowers combined with pinkish tone brickwork and rendering creates a warm holiday feeling, as if you're relaxing and sipping your second aperitivo of the evening. The stylishly ornate pergola panels reminded me of Venetian masks. They are both a form of artistic expression and allow you to see out without being truly seen by those around. In the case of the mask, there is anonymity and therefore the freedom to behave with less psychological constraint, but on the balcony it is more a sense of enjoyable seclusion. In a floral haven, the vertical height adding to a sense of space and the octagonal overhead planter gives a sense of living enclosure, with plants tumbling around the open skylight. Even in a downpour, the planting combination of cool silvery light reflected foliage, lush greens and hot and cool toned pinks make this balcony garden an uplifting and joyful experience. Inspirational ideas to take away from this design include the staging of multiple heights of planters to keep the eye engaged at many levels, creating interest and an expanding perspective in a small enclosed courtyard space. We also appreciated how water adds not only pleasant sound and liveliness of movement, but reflects light which would benefit any shady garden. This gold medal winning courtyard container garden by Tom Bannister manages to be soothingly serene and energizingly dynamic. The garden offers a plunge pool for health benefits, but in fact, the entire space feels like a refreshing sensory dive into an immersive biophilic oasis of well-being. The diverse lush tapestry of green leaf shapes is completely captivating, with perfect attention to planting detail. Shade loving plants include Japanese forest grass, blue-leafed hostas and the Japanese shield fern. The angular geometry of rectangular containers, pools and rills and the herringbone pattern bathing creates a strangely pleasing tension with the soft verdant fountains of lovely layered leafage. The texture of containers which were created from lightweight sustainable hypertufa adds interest and an organic feel to the angular shapes in the space. This is the only painting by Gustave Klimt displayed in a British public art collection and over 120 years after its creation, patterns on the dress helped inspire design features of a Chelsea garden. The Boodles Garden celebrates the bicentenary year of the National Gallery Art Museum in Trafalgar Square. Taking inspiration from paintings at the gallery, the garden's designer Catherine Macdonald was influenced by perspective, colour and textural details including works by Menzel. It was fun to absorb elements of the garden and try to make our own artistic illusions. It probably wasn't what the designer had in mind but for us, the wonderful cloud-pruned hues immediately brought the forms of Constable's skies to mind. The walkway pergolas were like a series of picture frames leading the eye around the space and upwards creating a sense of height to expand the perception of size in a small garden. I loved these unique water features with the surface partially enclosed by long brushstrokes of metal so that the light of the sparkling water danced in between. Here flowers were purposefully spaced in splashes of colour rather than merging into a tapestry, evoking the pointillism painting technique developed by Georges Seurat who applied multiple daubs of colour so that the viewing eye and mind blends them into a fuller range of tones. The planting palette here also reflects Seurat's use of vibrant greens. This engaging space shows how it is not just famous garden landscapes and galleries that can inspire us but that our planting and design inspiration can come from all kinds of details captured by the brush of painters from another era that can help us create unique works of garden art to enjoy in the present day. The concept of forest bathing which involves mindful sensory immersion in a forest environment has formed part of preventative healthcare in Japan since the 1980s to improve sleep quality, mood, focus and to regulate stress and anxiety levels. The restorative or spiritual essence of time spent in nature has a long history in many cultures but the forest bathing garden at Chelsea with its airy grove of trees and napped flint structure which creates a beautifully intriguing focal point reminded us of the 1700s wilderness planting in Britain and the decorative follies built with deeper symbolic meaning that also became popular in the 18th century. And if you're wondering why we made this historical connection here's our speedy explanation. Follies were introduced as an aesthetically pleasing landscape feature in gardens and parkland sometimes as an unmissable status symbol a viewing point to offer shelter from the elements but they also held symbolic meaning for example being left purposefully unfinished as a metaphor for humankind's constant quest for knowledge that can never be complete. So how does this connect to the forest bathing garden? The sheltering flint structure also has symbolic meaning because this garden has been designed as a place for solace and reflection for those with muscular dystrophy affected by muscle wasting or weakening conditions and the patterned wall of inset napped flint is designed to allude to the arrangement of human muscle cells. So this sheltering structure is a statement of beauty a symbol of the community the garden is created for and designer Ulla Maria also intends it as a visual aid and clinical tool to explain the effect of muscular dystrophy on muscles. There are over 50 trees planted in this garden including silver birch with their ever magical presence and a stunning mature hybrid cockspur The woodland edge planting is calming subtle and enchanting including the frothy lilac haze of the Lipton black stockings and highlights of wild valerian with deeper soothing pools of colour from iris sibirica berries blue. In 1785 the poet William Cooper wrote of the effect of a wilderness garden which was a purposefully planted woodland glade an antidote to formal garden areas and these lines written almost 250 years ago suit the effects of the forest bathing garden perfectly and now with nerves new braced and spirits cheered we tread the wilderness whole well-rolled walks with curvature of flow and easy weep deception innocent give ample pace to narrow bounds. There are two beautiful sanctuary gardens located side by side on Royal Hospital Way that illustrate how our personal focus in a garden can be directed by skillful design. One is the Bridgeton garden representing personal growth inward reflection and self-realization in an enclosed secretive secluded space. The other is the Burma garden representing outward focus and a journey to help others seeking wide-scale partnership and change in a broadly encompassing design landscape shaped by the natural world and cultural and spiritual history. In the Bridgeton space the circular design features from the moon gate to the curving central courtyard all create a peaceful secluded introspective retreat. This also looks like the perfect private space for liaisons and the RHS garden description does refer to desires. There are formal elements to the garden such as the three-tiered Windsor fountain and clipped conical hues mirrored by the spires of white foxglove snow thimble. The delightful planting palette creates a romantic atmosphere with the rich tones of lupine and the cool blue of campanula. In the Burma skincare initiative garden we find more white foxglove spires but in this place there are echoes of the graceful form of the ancient buddhist stupa gracefully rising from the rocky terrain gradually being absorbed into the living landscape by the advance of climbing plants. This garden which achieved gold and best sanctuary garden award is inspired by the landscape and character of Myanmar from the open-fronted basher the eye and mind are drawn outward to the scenery beyond and the garden feels convincingly authentic and transportive. In amongst the lush planting are medicinal native flora used for skincare which underscores the charity's vital work with global dermatological partnerships supporting Burmese healthcare workers in the treatment of adults and children affected by serious skin conditions. In the pool white water lilies grow in a naturalistic habitat. These have been used ornamentally in British parks and gardens across centuries. These are the day-flowering hardy variety but some tropical Burmese water lilies bloom only at night and are said to be opened by the moon. The snakebark maple with its serpentine markings is a beautiful small tree which glows with vibrant red orange or yellow foliage in autumn and suits full sun to partial shade. Flowers in the garden are predominantly blue and white a calming and refreshing palette. Italian bugloss which tolerates light shade and drought is a biennial native to Europe, North Africa and Asia. The tiny flowers in a beautifully intense blue can be added to salads. The symmetry of the self-reflective Bridgerton garden and the rugged and naturalistic terrain of the outwardly focused Burma Skincare Initiative garden illustrate how different psychological states can be influenced by the design of a landscape. The design of the National Autistic Society garden shows how to create different zones in one space through distinct planting areas which in this garden are separated by sheltering cork block structures. With this distinct zonal approach types of planting can be selected to suit the conditions of each area matching to sunnier or shadier corners or to damp or dry ground. At the front of the garden there is a sweetly flowing stream of candelabra primulus in delicious sweetie shop colours passing through the gentle green banks of surrounding planting reflecting the fact that these plants are happiest in a bog garden along stream edges or in damp shady borders keeping their roots moist. This is a cheerful and welcoming zone overlooked by the dining area but my favourite part of the garden is the contrasting gothic zone with its shady, ferny and mysterious atmosphere. The mossy remains of grand architecture conjures up ideas of some fallen dynasty reclaimed by nature. This garden was created for the autism community to enjoy with a series of zones created to highlight different types of social interaction at work, at home, with friends and family and with oneself and how social interactions can involve a draining and psychologically highly detrimental process called masking which involves constantly modifying behaviour in order to fit in such as making eye contact even when it is highly uncomfortable to do so. So in this context maybe those half-buried architectural remains represent aspects of the authentic self that are constantly being suppressed. A mini camassia meadow was a delightful sight and camassia are a wonderful choice for the post tulip pause when most spring bulbs have finished flowering and summer annuals and perennials are only just beginning to command attention. Unlike most bulbs they are also excellent if you have heavy moist soils and their nectar and pollen rich flowers immediately bring foraging bees to your garden. Thank you for coming along with us on our second episode exploring RHS Chelsea 2024. We hope you'll join us in a future video with more gardens and a focus on health and well-being and sustainability at Chelsea.