From a lockdown balcony garden to a glimpse inside a furnished treehouse, we recommend some of the best exhibits, products and plants to look out for at Chelsea Flower Show, the world’s greatest flower show.
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A balcony garden
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The Balcony and Container Garden category is also returning for 2022 with many first-time designers and exhibitors taking part. Among the balcony gardens, which will be eligible for judging this year, is the Cirrus Garden designed by Jason Williams. Known to his many Instagram followers as @cloudgardeneruk, Jason is creating a garden inspired by what he grew on his 18th-floor balcony in Manchester throughout lockdown. His garden will use a mixture of wildflowers and edibles to create an urban sanctuary for wildlife.
New roses from Peter Beales
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Peter Beales Roses is launching two new roses at Chelsea, including Rosa Rachel’s Joy (= ‘BEAquick’), named in memory of a former director of the company, Rachel Flood. With peachy-pink flowers, similar to those of a peony, Rachel’s Joy has a subtle fragrance as it opens, and the flowers are set against mid-green foliage.
Protecting our peatlands
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Dalefoot Composts has teamed up with the Eden Project to highlight the importance of protecting peatlands in the UK. As part of an immersive display in the Great Pavilion’s Discovery Zone, visitors will learn more about the importance of peat and peatlands to the climate. Alongside, a bountiful display of planting, grown in peat-free compost by Gold medal-winning Pennard Plants, will illustrate what gardeners can achieve by switching to peat-free gardening.
An edible garden
Kitchen Garden Plant Centre makes its debut at this year’s Chelsea. The herb and edible plant grower’s display will showcase how these can be grown in all areas of the garden, not just the dry and sunny parts. Among its peat-free grown display will be alpine strawberries, salad burnet, and Asian herbs Houttuynia cordata and Persicaria odorata.
A work of art by Jack Eagen
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Sculptor Jack Eagen has created a standalone sculpture Dancers for Richard Miers’ show garden, The Perennial Garden ‘With Love’, which aims to raise awareness
of the help and support the garden charity provides to those working in and retired from horticulture. Jack is also producing, limited-edition, scaled-down models of the sculpture to raise money for Perennial. These will be for sale from Perennial’s website and its trade stand at the show along with products from design studios A Blackbird Sang and Charlotte Hogg Studio created to complement the garden.
Indoor plant inspiration
The popular houseplant studios, introduced in 2021, are returning to Chelsea for a second year. Six houseplant specialists have designed individual displays for Ranelagh Gardens that aim to inspire us all to cultivate our own indoor jungle. Exeter-based Hutch Houseplants is theming its studio, Rewilding, as a walk-in terrarium filled with vintage furniture almost as though a dining room has been reclaimed by tropical plants to return to rainforest.
Beekeeping around the world
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Bees for Development: Making Life Better with Bees exhibit in the Great Pavilion’s Discovery Zone is a chance to learn about beekeeping methods from around the world. Designed by Sarah Mihalop, it explores the relationship between bees, people, food and the environment and showcases the ways in which the charity harnesses the power of beekeeping to alleviate poverty.
Vortex sculpture by David Harber
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David Harber will be unveiling his latest sculpture, Bite II, at Chelsea. Crafted by hand out of patinated copper and polished stainless steel at David’s rural Oxfordshire workshop, it features a mirrored vortex that reflects and distorts its surroundings.
A treehouse interior
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Furniture and lighting designer Tom Raffield is supplying a range of hand-crafted furniture, lighting and his stylish Morvah Ceiling Hanging Planters to furnish the interior of the Fairmont Windsor Park Treehouse, on the Blue Forest trade stand. After the show, the treehouse will become part of the luxury accommodation offered by spa hotel Fairmont Windsor Park.
Glassware inspired by wisteria
Decorative glassware designer Emma Britton will bring her latest RHS exclusive collection to Chelsea. Inspired by the Wisteria Walk at RHS Garden Wisley, the RHS Wisteria Collection depicts tumbling blooms etched on to glassware, including wine glasses, carafes and vases. All are decorated and hand finished at Emma’s studio in Derbyshire and will be available to buy from the RHS.