The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has declared that this year’s Chelsea flower show is all about weeds, but not as we know them. Four of its 12 show gardens will feature plants traditionally regarded as weeds, which are now being rebranded as “resilient” and “heroes”. Weeds are no longer flowers in the wrong place, according to this year’s organisers, but exactly where they should be, softening the designer’s edge and adding a wild note to far corners. I do love an about-change from the marching band. It’s so full of fanfare and drama.
Except it’s not really new, wild things have been creeping into Chelsea for many years now. Just ask Mary Reynolds, the Irish environmentalist and author of We are the Ark whose gold-winning show garden in 2002 was noted for its “subversive use of weeds”, plants that she is still very much using today in her design work.
