RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021 Part 1 – The Show Gardens

Well here we go, I’ve finally got myself to the RHS Chelsea flower show!

And what a momentous year to go, with the 2020 show not able to go ahead due to a world wide pandemic.

Even this years show has been affected, having to be moved from its usual slot in May, to September. Although a virtual show was held back in the spring to lift our spirits and allow the exhibitors chance to show what they had prepared.

But it’s back! 28 months on from the last one. And here I am about to tick it off my bucket list.

I’m well prepared with my most comfortable footwear on, sunscreen and an umbrella in my bag. And most importantly my camera!

Let the show begin!

What is the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (in case you live on Mars)

The RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Chelsea flower show is regarded by most as the best flower show in the world; certainly the most famous.

It was first held as the Great Spring Show in 1862, and has been going ever since with a brief pause for two world wars and Covid 19.

This year the show is running for six days, one more than usual, so that less people go each day.

It runs from Tuesday to Sunday, Monday being the preview day, also known as press day.

This is when Her Majesty The Queen usually visits (but sadly not this year), and other members of the royal family. There are always plenty of famous faces adorning the avenue.

Tuesday and Wednesday, are for RHS members only.

And the rest of the week is open to the general public.

Let’s Get Into The Show

Arriving early in the morning, I picked up a show guide (£10 eek, but worth it) and headed straight for the show gardens.

Being the most popular attraction, I’ve heard that they can get so busy that it’s difficult to see properly.

Not to worry though, as I was pleasantly surprised to be able to get right up to the gardens, and view them from multiple locations.

Having not been before I don’t know if this is because I was lucky enough to be there on member’s day, or if it’s because they were allowing less people in each day.

Most of the gardens had the designers or other staff standing by, only too pleased to answer your questions. They seemed very happy to engage and explain about the plants and concept of the garden.

The Show Gardens and Feature Gardens

So to begin with the first show garden ….

Bodmin Jail: 60degs East – A Garden Between Continents – Silver Medal

Designer: Ekaterina Zasukhina with Carly Kershaw

It was so early when I arrived at this, the first show garden, that the sun wasn’t even up over it. Quite realistic really as the garden is set in the ‘Ural Mountains’ in Russia.

The pathways make you want to jump the rope and walk on up to the waterfall at the back. The water comes from huge rocks representing the mountains, down into a pool, then meanders around the garden in the form of streams.

The pathways take you between rocks and beautifully planted borders with white Hydrandeas, orange Geums, blue Salvias and pink Persicarias (you’ll be seeing a lot of them).

With a number of pine trees including a wonderful example of a cloud pruned pine, Pinus mugo ‘Pumilio’.

The fabulous sculptures by artist Penny Hardy are representing mankind. I love the way she’s used rusty old pieces of machinery.

The message of the garden is that people come and go but that nature, the mountains and the earth remain.

Feature Gardens

Before reaching the next show garden, we passed three feature Gardens.

RHS Queen’s Green Canopy Garden

Designed by David Dodd

The BBC One Show and RHS Garden of Hope.

Designed by Arit Anderson

You could actually walk through this garden, but each time I passed there was a queue, so I regret that I didn’t make it into the garden. You could see quite a lot from the outside though and it did look beautiful. There were some amazing wooden structures curving their way around the garden forming benches here and there.

A calming water feature with a bridge over it, which I thought looked very Art Nouveau and lovely planting.

RHS COP26 Garden

Designed by Marie-Louise Agius and Balston Agius

This garden was created because of the UK hosting the UN Climate change conference later this year. It is to highlight the fact that we can all play our small part to help alleviate climate change. By all making small changes to how we use our outdoor spaces we can make a big difference.

The garden is split into four areas, Decline, Adaptation, Mitigation and Balance.

It starts out quite shocking showing the damage done by intensive building.

Moving to education, showing the changes we can make to improve the soil.

Then onto a lovely wildflower meadow complete with bee hives.

And finally a beautiful garden with vegetables mixed in with ornamentals.

This section uses all the hot coloured flowers we associate with this time of year, Heleniums, Rudbeckias, Dahlias and Cannas. A real splash of colour.

Back to the show gardens

The Trailfinders’ 50th Anniversary Garden – Gold Medal – Best Construction award

Designed by Jonathan Snow.

The inspiration for this garden was taken from the foothills of the Himalayan mountains, in Nepal.

The first thing you notice about this garden are the colourful prayer flags flapping in the wind.

Stone paths wind through boulders planted with rhododendrons and pines. Then under-planted with ferns and those persicarias I told you you’d be seeing more of. They had mixed the dark pink persicaria, possibly ‘Ruby’s pink’ with the white ‘alba’. I have both of these colours at home but I’ve never thought to plant them together.

Eventually the paths lead to a pergola set up high, where you find water driven prayer wheels.

The predominant colour was green. Just using a limited few flowers of four colours, white, yellow, pink and blue, repeating in drifts. This gave the whole garden a natural calming effect.

A real place to chill out.

Guangzhou China: Guangzhou Garden – Gold – Best show garden 2021

Designer by Peter Chimiel with Chin-Jung Chen

The tall bamboo cones draw you to this woodland style garden. For me though it was the generous amount of water, it felt like a real wildlife sanctuary.

The pond with its purifying plants, water forget-me-not, irises, rush and floating oxygenators. Surrounded by well planted wetland areas with stepping stones.

Huge trees that you simply can’t believe haven’t been growing there forever!

Then a mass of green planting with ferns and euphorbias.

A few shots of white and blue lift the whole area, coming from Salvia ‘uliginosa’ (another plant used a lot) and you guessed it white Persicaria.

I think if you came across this oasis in the middle of a city, or quite honestly ‘anywhere’, you’d be very happy. 

The Yeo Valley Organic Garden – Gold Medal – People’s choice award

Designed by Tom Massey

The first thing that grabbed my attention was the wooden information cow. Very clever as the sponsor is yeo valley organics, an organically run dairy farm.

Refreshingly this garden is the first organic garden that Chelsea has ever had.

Hopefully starting a trend as we are all realising the benefits of having wild flowers and a few weeds in our gardens. Sustainability was a definite theme running through the show.

The next thing to grab my attention was the wooden egg cocoon, hanging amidst the silver birch trees. I could definitely see myself in there with a G&T! Watching the wildlife and listening to the water trickling out of the old cattle trough.

The naturalistic planting amongst the charcoal logs was beautiful. With grasses, heleniums, ferns and those two plants that seemed to pop up everywhere, the blue Salvia ‘uliginosa’ and Persicaria, again they have used both pink and white forms. The coppiced tree at the front of the stand was also getting a lot of attention.

On the stand they were handing out the most inventive business cards ever. They actually had seeds impregnated into them. The idea is when you’ve finished reading it you to lay it on some damp compost and see what pops up. I can’t wait to see what I get!

The Florence Nightingale Garden – Silver Medal – My Favourite

Designer: Robert Myers

The Florence Nightingale Garden is in honour of the 200th anniversary of her birth last year. The theme is “Nurture through nature”, which is so appropriate as I think most of us realised in lockdown last year, how important nature is for our mental health.

Do I mention first, the beautiful planting or the magnificent skeletal wooden pergola?

As someone that likes a bit of DIY – well a lot really, I thought the construction was fascinating.

There are two large pergolas, one at each end connected with a walkway hugging the building.

The border along here is shady so planted with Hostas, ferns, digitalis and Japanese anenomes. It also has Florence Nightingales words printed on the wall.

But back to the structures. They are made of cross-laminated timber (CLT), which is really lightweight allowing them to canter leaver. They are especially impressive when viewed from beneath.

As the garden was designed for a hospital and will be going to London’s St Thomas’ after the show. Patients wheeled out in beds or chairs, or just sitting underneath it will have a super view.

And back to the rest of the plants. Tall swaying brightly coloured Verbena bonariensis, Asters, Echinacea, and more Japanese anemones, interspersed with ferns and grasses. With perfectly positions trees giving dappled shade

The garden also featured a stunning flowering tree that everyone was asking the name of. Luckily the helpers on the stand had been well briefed as it’s quite a mouthful ‘Heptacodium miconioides’.

I love this garden, it’s my pick from the show gardens.

The M&G Garden – Gold Medal

Designed by Harris Bugg Studio. Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg.

A surprisingly tranquil garden, despite the industrial pipework everywhere. I must admit that the five year old that still lives inside me would have loved to have gone and climbed all over it!

Although this garden was a pristine version of turning an industrial space back into a beautiful green space. It always amazes me how quickly nature, when left to its own devices takes back control of our disused manmade ugliness.

Another soft spot I have for this garden, is it had one of my favourite plants in ‘Actaea simplex’.

Gosh after all that, it must be time for a coffee, it feels like an age since my first one!

Join me after my coffee break for the great pavilion and more. To be continued….

Stay safe and happy garden viewing.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021 Part 2 – The Great Pavilion

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021 Part 3 – Smaller Gardens & Shopping!