RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024
View Photos of RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024
Hampshire garden designer Ann-Marie Powell created a show garden for The National Trust:
Pioneering social reformer Octavia Hill (1838-1912), a founder of the National Trust, believed that ‘the healthy gift of air and the joy of plants and flowers’ were vital in everyone’s life. She worked tirelessly to improve urban housing and protect green space, yet today, one-in-three people in Britain still don’t have access to nearby nature-rich spaces.
Conceptually located on an urban brownfield site, this beautiful, plant-filled wildlife garden was designed to stimulate physical, mental, and social wellbeing. The garden increased urban biodiversity and encouraged visitors to make intimate connections with plants and wildlife.
The garden was built around open-air sitting rooms, where visitors feel like they’re part of nature. A timber retaining wall and hand-carved seating provided multiple views over the wildlife, feasting on the pollinator-friendly planting.
A steel-lattice canopy structure in the pattern of a dragonfly wing, formed a habitat hub for the wider garden – along with bird boxes hung within the trees which trail through the space. A contemporary wildlife pond and walkable stream added to the habitats of the garden, and filled the space with the calming sound of running water.
Artist Metalsmith Richard Weaver from Liphook created the featured metal design.
The garden was relocated to Bridgemere Show Gardens in Cheshire, an RHS Partner Garden.
Spires of digitalis and trailing geranium created a rich planting palette. Several edible species were included in the planting, primarily as food sources for wildlife, and for foraging. All were included for their ornamental as well as productive values.
The plants were grown by Hampshire nursery Hortus Loci.
Ann-Marie was awarded a Silver-gilt Medal and a Chelsea first – the inaugural Children’s Choice Award. She also won People’s Choice.
Watch Ann-Marie Powell and Mark Straver (Hortus Loci CEO) discussing her 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden:
Hortus Loci also supplied four more Main Avenue gardens:
The entrance into this show garden, designed by Matty Childs, was reminiscent of the flooded base of a rejuvenated quarry landscape. The water level rose and fell, revealing a monolith slate stepping stone creating a bridge to the 2030 vision of no new HIV cases. The tombstone, which once represented death and fear, was used as a crossing, leading to a secluded terrace in which to enjoy a positive, hopeful future together.
The front of the garden was a crevice garden, which took inspiration from natural areas where plants grow in gaps between rocks. This ornamental space transitioned to a more natural look towards the rear of the garden.
Granite boulders were scattered through the garden, inspired by those found in the slate landscapes of North Wales. One of those boulders balanced precariously from the raised bed on the boundary, looking as though it is about to fall. Beneath it, fragile sticks give the illusion they are supporting the weight of the boulder – an analogy for those people lost to HIV.
The planting in the garden was inspired by the recolonisation of plants in the redundant slate mines of North Wales by both nature and from the subtle intervention of ecologists and horticulturalists. Yellows were key to punctuating deeper tones of purples and reds at the front of the garden and connecting with a palette of greens at the rear. Resilient planting for a changing climate was a key theme in the garden.
Matty Childs was awarded Silver-gilt and Best Construction.
The garden, designed by Tom Massey and Je Ahn, explored what a UK garden might look like in 50 years, focusing on sustainable water management and featuring a colourful array of drought tolerant species and materials that are reclaimed and repurposed with a lighter carbon footprint.
The central pavilion stood among stunning greenery, and plants such as Hottonia palustris and Hesperaloe parviflora. The pavilion was made of a steel subframe, clad with overlapping weathering steel sheets, giving it an organic and fluid form. Rainfall was harvested from the structure, filtering and slowing down its dispersal into the landscape.
Alnus glutinosa ‘Pyramidalis’ emerged though the pavilion, part of a planting scheme chosen principally for resilience and biodiversity. The planting was textured and colourful, shifting from denser, wetter, lowland areas to sparser, drier upland character with the garden’s shifting topography.
Tom Massey and Je Ahn were awarded Gold.
The garden, designed by Robert Myers, celebrated the restorative power of green spaces in cities, illustrating a sense of hope and recovery and inspiring future generations to ‘imagine the world to be different’. Inspired by the architecture of St James’s church in central London, its bombing during the war and its existing and proposed gardens and precinct. The garden imagined an alternative world where St James’s was only partially restored, becoming a biodiverse garden space built around remnant walls.
The ‘borrowed’ plane trees of the RHS Chelsea showground echoed similar trees at St James’s, as did the materials used including Yorkstone paving, Portland stone copings, window and archway mouldings, and brick planter walls. A tall, rammed earth wall represented the face of the church, and a small pool with water spouts referenced the fountain at St James’s, with the Mary of Nazareth statue set in the centre.
Calm, contemplative and uplifting, it was a refuge in the city for humans and wildlife, offering lush multi-layered greenery and water to engage the senses.
A place of dappled shade, with rich, biodiverse woodland planting, the palette was selected to evoke the garden at St James’s and the slightly eclectic planting of other urban ‘pocket parks’ with a good proportion of evergreens, plants for wildlife, and low maintenance plants. Textural greens were dotted with splashes of red, lime green, pink, purple and white. Shrubs were mixed with ferns and robust perennials, and walls festooned with climbing plants.
Robert Myers was awarded Gold.
On Main Avenue were more Hortus Loci plants at Harry Holding’s The RHS No Adults Allowed Garden – a Chelsea first as it was made by children. The RHS invited pupils from Sulivan Primary School in London to work alongside Harry and together they created the brief and design for the garden.
This was a feature garden so wasn’t judged.
The exhibit contained the ‘Tree of the Show’ – Chinonanthus retusus (Chinese fringe tree). It was a Chelsea first as in previous years the weather hasn’t ever allowed it to flower in time.
Hortus Loci also grew plants for an exhibit in the Sanctuary Garden category:
Designed by Giulio Giorgi as a sensory haven, this garden brought joy, hope and escapism through nature for children undergoing cancer treatment.
Circular raised beds made from perforated clay blocks offered diverse sensory experiences through soft-touch plants, fragrant herbs and vibrant mosses, whilst the lower raised beds cultivated edible plants for exploration.
These low-maintenance, resilient plants symbolised the countries supported by World Child Cancer to improve global child cancer survival rates through community and healthcare empowerment.
Supporting emotional wellbeing, a child and a parent could stroll through the reclaimed brick path which leads to a scenic meadow surrounded by tall trees, perennials, annuals and shrubs. At its heart was a seating area which was a restful place for children and their loved ones.
The planting scheme created a light soothing atmosphere with a leafy matrix of silver-whites and blue-greys, punctuated by vivid and playful flowers in complementary colours. Trees and shrubs, such as Sorbus aria ‘Lutescens’ and Elaeagnus commutata helped create a serene, protective and soft setting.
Giulio Giorgi was given the RHS Environmental Innovation Award and also won a Gold Medal.
Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants supplied Tomies Cuisine ‘Nobonsai’ balcony garden designed by Tsuyako Asada. The theme of this garden was “a piece of the landscape of nature”. “Tomie’s Cuisine the Nobonsai” was dedicated to promoting living together with fungi, microorganisms and animals. This balcony garden contained innovative plastic-free, chemical-free, and sustainable gardening methods.
The designers wanted to inspire visitors with their “no- waste gardening” method. Instead of disposing of garden waste, they reused pruned twigs, stems, weeds, and leaves by cutting them into small pieces
and placing them on the soil’s surface. This method retained soil moisture, promoted bacteria growth, and enhanced mycorrhizal fungi development, making plants healthier and reducing the need for chemical fertilisers. Additionally, it softened the soil, eliminating the need for soil cultivation.
This garden also included some edible plants. A yuzu citrus tree was the most prominent in this balcony garden, but there was also a hazelnut tree, fig tree, blueberry and many other edible kitchen herbs.
The primary colour scheme of this garden was made up of yellows, blues and purples, with the Isatis tinctoria’s yellow flowers and Angelica archangelica’s purple stems provided the accent colours.
The unsung heroes in this garden were the fungi, bacteria and microorganisms. These essential elements are necessary for a garden and keeping them from disappearing or decreasing is the whole point behind making a sustainable garden.
Tsuyako Asada was awarded Silver-gilt.
Pretty new rose ‘National Trust Beauty’ was one of the starts in the floral tent.
In the central Monument Site, was the feature garden of Emma Tipping who was mentored by Hampshire horticulturalist Rosy Hardy. The garden featured a mix of herbs, vegetables, mushrooms and wildflowers and it was one you could walk around. It told the story of a day on the nursery.
Rob Hardy mentored Cosmos National Plant Collection Holder, Jonathan Sheppard for his first ever Chelsea Flower Show. He was given a Silver medal.
Hampshire’s Sparsholt College entered a garden with horticultural charity The Colegrave Seabrook Foundation. The exhibit explored the history of plant introductions from Hampshire whilst celebrating the impact of influential horticulturists and the role the college has played in their professional growth. They were awarded Silver-gilt.
Sparsholt College entered five plants including:
The RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year 2024 went to Prunus ‘Starlight,’ bred by Ken Tobutt, exhibited by Green Jjam Nurseries and supplied by Frank P Matthews.
Also in the Great Pavilion was:
Hampshire Carnivorous Plants, Southampton
Carnivorous plants in a natural setting
Medal: Gold
New Forest Hostas & Hemerocallis, Ringwood
Display of ferns and other foliage plants
Medal: Gold
Trade stand from Hampshire were:
Alitex Ltd, Petersfield
Bespoke aluminium glasshouses of all sizes
Ann-Marie Powell Gardens, Petersfield
Creative DeZigns, Eversley
Ethical cotton clothing styled by nature
GBBC Ltd, Winchester
Hand care, home fragrance & sustainable gifts
Griffin Glasshouses Ltd, Ropley,
Handmade aluminium Victorian-style greenhouses
Oxenwood, Andover
Oak outdoor furniture and outdoor kitchens
The Delphinium Society, Romsey
Delphiniums in a garden setting
Cunard again partnered with the RHS to present The Stage.
It wouldn’t have been Chelsea if there weren’t a few celebs around:
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show was on from 21-25 May 2024.
