Chelsea Ideas, Tips & Guides

Join us for a new podcast series of summer conversations with the BBC Gardeners’ World team. Listen to gardening inspiration from some of the UK’s most loved and well-respected gardening experts. With advice for adding colour to your garden, working with nature, boosting your wellbeing, thrifty gardening, veg growing and allotment life. We’ll also take you on a royal tour, go behind the scenes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, share garden designer secrets, tips for growing better roses, plant-based recipes with Deliciously Ella and much more. Plus, take a sneak peak inside the gardens of celebrities including Griff Rhys Jones and Caroline Quentin. Enjoy friendly gardening chat and informative discussion, perfect for everyone who loves gardening. With new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. Subscribe now, wherever you get your podcasts, and never miss an episode.

There’s a buzz in the air at this time of the year in the gardening world, as we look forward to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

There are certain nuggets of good garden advice, so counterintuitive that they seem to make absolutely no sense at all. Why on earth, for example, should we pinch out the growing tip of a perfectly healthy seedling or plant stem as a way of encouraging it to fatten up? “Leggy”, after all, is usually a term of admiration rather than opprobrium. Likewise, why would pruning back perfectly healthy shrubs — essentially cutting away their lovely strong shoots and branches- possibly make them bushier and more floriferous when surely it should result in the exact opposite? In the same vein, why is it a good idea to shear back lavender plants that are only just beginning to fluff up again after a long, dark and dismal winter? And what, oh what, is the Chelsea chop, which sounds to the uninitiated like some form of plant abuse?

In the meantime we'll have to make do with the sketched design — as you can see there's a lot crammed into a small space. FloodRe — the garden's sponsor — have an interactive version on their website which allows you to explore the garden's features thoroughly — both in terms of the various habitats and planting — which are also chosen carefully to help with flood resilience, as well as the more engineering aspects to the design. As a result I'm currently pondering whether we can have some extra wide guttering installed on our house as we have real problems with overflows on an increasingly regular basis.Naomi tells me the garden attracted a lot of attention at the RHS Spring Conference recently. I'm not surprised seeing England has had one of the wettest 18 months on record. They've certainly captured the zeitgeist! I hope the garden's design and ensuing conversations will help to galvanise real changes in planning law and garden design. Post Chelsea the garden itself is set to move to Howbery Park in Oxfordshir

Away from the Show Gardens on Main Avenue, the Sanctuary Gardens offer plenty of inspiration and often on a more achievable scale. A garden that honours 200 years of the National Gallery, a family space that can bounce back from heavy rainfall, and a sensory haven that supports the emotional wellbeing for children undergoing cancer treatment, feature in 2024’s line up.

The All About Plants category debuted in the Great Pavilion at RHS Chelsea 2022. This year, six gardens supported by Project Giving Back and designed in collaboration with a UK charity, will be on display. A grief garden, a skate park with a focus on edible planting, and a vibrant design that champions good gut health are just a snapshot of the gardens putting plants at the forefront of the design and keeping hard landscape at a minimum.

Most of us can’t afford ‘grand design’ in our gardens, bringing in professionals for TV-style makeover. But we are always looking for hints, tips and ideas that will give our gardens a distinctive look. It can be as simple as where to place a deckchair or arranging a group plants. Here Ruth Chivers takes a look at what we can learn from the major summer Shows.

The Main Avenue of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the heart of the iconic event. An extraordinary opportunity for talented newcomers and experienced designers alike to showcase innovation, creativity and the transformative power of a garden space in the heart of the city and watched by an audience of millions. Tom Massey is back after his 2023 Chelsea Flower Show success, this year partnering with Je Ahn, and familiar faces Ann-Marie Powell, Matthew Childs, Tom Stewart-Smith and Robert Myers are designing show gardens supported by Project Giving Back. 

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024 makes its anticipated return to the spring season this year, taking place between 21 – 25 May 2024. Discover our coverage of the gardens and other attractions this year.

Project Giving Back has announced that it will be continuing its support of gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2025 and 2026. Speaking at the opening of the 2023 Gardens For Good Causes Exhibition at the Garden Museum in London, Project Giving Back’s CEO, Hattie Ghaui, said: “I am thrilled to confirm we will be supporting even more gardens for good causes at RHS Chelsea Flower Show until 2026. As we move into our third year of funding, it feels like PGB is still in its adolescent years and we wanted to give it time to mature into adulthood. We know from having to turn down some incredibly strong funding applications over the past couple of years that there are so many wonderful stories waiting to be told. We’re all excited to see how the creativity of charities, designers and wider garden teams continues to unfold and look forward to welcoming more partnerships into the PGB family.”

An ethnobotany superhero by night, my mild-mannered daytime alter ego is a science writer for the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), one of the UK’s research councils. It’s not often that those two worlds collide, although during the early summer the campus I work on is dotted with the blooms of hardy orchids.

‘Take Chelsea Home’ by Chris Young shows the “Best Garden Design from the Chelsea Flower Show”. Below is a brief preview of the 2010 gardens and designers.

I like a good strong blue in the garden and not because Chelsea FC play in a blue soccer strip. With the 2018 Chelsea flower show on the RHS calendar I have selected a few photographs to highlight my favourite colour.

Jorge Rodriguez shared today’s photos, which offer a beautiful look at the garden Jorge designed for the Chelsea Flower Show. Chelsea is one of the premier garden shows in the world, with countless designers creating gardens to showcase different design ideas.

Iris ‘Benton Olive’ in Sarah Price's garden

A former AIB banker-turned-gardener says he feels “like a five-year-old getting presents” after winning a major award as well as a prestigious gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in London.

Chelsea is always inspirational but there are some years when the excitement ramps up a notch, and this is one of those years. There are so many superb show gardens to steal ideas from, so many important messages to absorb, that it has been difficult to narrow it down. The plantsmanship is breathtaking, the designs imaginative and the themes thought-provoking, many of the gardens demonstrating how we can garden more sustainably in this era of climate change. From Cleve West’s atmospheric ruined house to Chris Beardshaw’s immaculately planted woodland glade, there is so much at the show to learn from. Here is my pick of the crop.

The Royal Horticultural Society of London challenged everyone this year who could make a pocket-sized realistic garden, and people didn’t disappoint! Here are the best Small Balcony Garden Ideas from Chelsea Flower Show!

Hmm……… Not everything at Chelsea is beautiful – it was a close run thing to choose the object that I most objected to, but this year’s award goes to this pig seat!

Now in its 101st year the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the flagship gardening show in the gardening calendar. This years show is set to be another fantastic celebration for the RHS with fantastic weather on the lead up to the show and the build up, ensuring all the plants and blooms are in top condition. Last years show was focused on the celebration of

There are always certain plants that put in repeat performances throughout the show gardens at Chelsea.  Three years ago you couldn’t buy Silene fimbriata anywhere (a friend dug a clump up for me) but this year it was evident in several gardens and on the stands in the Grand Pavilion. It’s a great plant for shady places, doesn’t mind the dry and spreads to form attractive clumps bearing fringed white flowers in late spring. In gardens where the mood

Although you can’t buy plants at Chelsea (except for very little ones) there are plenty of shopping opportunities – and if you don’t feel like lugging your purchases round with you, with most things you can window shop and buy them later online. Here’s my eclectic pick of some of the products that caught my eye. One of a series of charming or tho

Plants that Pleased at Chelsea I’ve been trawling through my many images of Chelsea and. Some are just for admiring – others I may well emulate. Orange was definitely the colour du jour with geums, verbascums and erysimums popping up in many of the gardens.

Gloves are always of interest to gardeners – I have an enormous collection, many of which have holes in the fingers, so I think it is time to cull the less than perfect and invest in a few more. I came back from the show with a pair of MechanixWear womens’ leather-palmed gloves (£22) which are soft, comfortable and washable as well as extremely tough. The sizing is on the small side though so it’s best to buy larger than normal. Burgon & Ball always have innovative displays on their stand – their Love the Glove range (from £12.95) were displayed under glass domes. These gloves are ultra-soft but hardwearing, have padded palm and a wrist strap to keep debris out. www.burgonandball.com Sneeboer, makers of fine garden tools have had fun with one of their garden spades that they have fashioned into a stool – it’s not for sale, but I best they get lots of enquiries about it – so who knows, in the future it may be added to the range. Just the sort of thing the hipsters love! Trugs come in every shape and size and the Trugmake

In my earlier post about Sir Paul Smith, I wrote about the role of green as the anchor that holds everything in place in a garden – so it’s unsurprising that the greenness was what I noticed as I looked at some of the drawings of this year’s Chelsea gardens. No doubt, when we get to Chelsea our eyes will seek out the excitement, and the actual gardens will be further enlivened by shape, texture and the play of light, but it is useful to see the contribution that green makes to each of the gardens and bear it in mind for the planting in our own garden. Jo Thompson’s Sylvan Retreat will h

The Chelsea Flower Show

I don’t think it was just the flat light, grey skies and chilly temperatures that gave the show quite a subdued feel. Of course, it was not helped by our never-arriving spring that has left many of the show gardens with flowers on the point of unfurling, but seemingly as reluctant to open as I was to remove any of the several layers of clothing I was wearing on Press Day.

The Loveliest Sight Chelsea Sarah Cook’s collection of the subtly beautiful Cedric Morris irises took my breath away and the way they were presented was inspired – Cedric Morris would have been thrilled – it almost felt like he was!

Now that all the hubbub has died down and I have had time to think about this year’s Chelsea, I thought I would report on the lasting impressions, rather than my instant reactions. And as this was the first Chelsea in sixteen years that I have attended without an editor’s hat on there was no need to rush around checking trends, looking for the latest new products, or planning features. Phew! Instead, I tried to look at everything through the eyes of a gardener rather than as a journalist. And have some fun! Plants – Purple & Oran

The Great Wall of Otley © Kate Dundas It’s March, th

In the lead up to the Chelsea Flower Show, TEG is going to follow the progress of the World Vision garden with regular reports from the team. World Vision  is an international children’s charity that works in almost 100 countries across the world. They work with children and their families to fin

Sir Paul Smith finds inspiration at the Chelsea Flower Show Last week I somewhat reluctantly took the train to London for a second day in a row to attend the late afternoon RHS press briefing for Chelsea 2015.  Don’t get me wrong – I was interested – it was the prospect of a two hour journey home on a crowded commuter train that put me off. I’M SO GLAD I WENT.

Retail therapy at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2014 by Daniel Carruthers The Chelsea Flower Show, now in it’s 101st year, is revered for its wonderful gardens showing the latest trends in garden design. The show does also have many other elements of inspiration too with a wide and often unsung retail section. Predominantly the Eastern Avenue is the shopaholic gardeners first port of call with everything on display ranging from hats and gardening apparel to seeds and works of art.

With the grey light and relative lack of flowers it was often the contrasting textures in the gardens that became apparent at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Chelsea isn’t just about show gardens and a pavilion bursting with blooms. There are all manner of things for sale too, from the sublime to the frankly ridiculous. At the very peak of the subli