Dannahue Clarke and Tayshan Hayden-Smith collected the silver gilt for Grow2Know’s Hands Off Mangrove garden
(Picture: Lucy Young)It’s all gone a bit wild at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year.
The judges have this morning announced which of the 38 gardens have won their golden seal of approval, and which ones fell short of full marks.
Gardens are judged against the brief submitted by the garden designers more than a year ago, along with the quality of the construction, plants and the overall atmosphere of the garden, and ranked from gold to bronze.
Rewilding, climate and reacquainting ourselves with nature are the themes that shine through this year.
Chelsea first-timers win big
These debut Chelsea designers have been awarded the prestigious gold medal for their gardens.
Giving permission to garden more freely, and highlighting the beauty of the natural environment, Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunt’s A Rewilding Britain Landscape has also secured gold — and the overall Best in Show prize.
The garden is a microcosm of the natural world, from meadow to brook, and uses only native plants. Mounds of great tussock sedge (Carex paniculata) give way to meadow and wetland planting, whilst willows grow by the waters edge. It’s located on Main Avenue at the show this week.
The Wilderness Foundation garden by Charlie Hawkes, in the all about plants category, captures the atmosphere of a Japanese woodland.
A narrow path clad with charred timber zigzags past huge moss covered stones, under a canopy of Zelkova and Maackia trees, encouraging reflection on the unusual plants found on a forest floor.
The garden is located in the Great Pavilion. After the show it will be installed at a south London school.
Jamie Butterworth’s Place2Be Sanctuary garden offers a space in which children feel safe and are able to talk.
The sunken garden is surrounded by Cornus, Parrotia and Carpinus trees that provide a quiet and shaded space where two hand carved benches sit. The garden has a wild touch, using Geranium phaeum and masses of white valerian.
It’s located on Royal Hospital Way. After the show the garden will be moved to Viking Primary school in west London.
Plants for the future
There is no doubt that plants come front and centre of design at the show this year, for a flower show this sounds highly unusual but it hasn’t always been the case.
Winning gold for gardens that are using unusual plants at Chelsea this year include Sarah Eberle’s Medite Smart Ply, Building the Future Garden. As you enter the showground a striking cave like structure topped with a contorted pine tree is surrounded by thick conifers and future proof naturalistic planting combinations.
Big leaf tetrapanax meets honey spurge (Euphorbia mellifera) all plants that have proven to enjoy London’s warming climate. It’s located on Main Avenue.
Designed as a section of a long narrow London garden, Kate Gould’s Out of the Shadows garden progresses from sun loving mediterranean planting, to shadier jungle planting under the canopy of tree ferns and exercise bars.
As temperatures in our cities rise, so do the planting opportunities. Gould has taken full advantage to express what is and might be possible with plants such as Alocasia zebrina and the peruvian pepper tree, Schinus molle. Located on Royal Hospital Way.
City Spaces
After the success of the Balcony Garden category in September, this year sees the addition of the Container Garden category, acknowledging that show stopping gardens can be created even in a small amount of space.
The silver gilt-winning Cirrus Garden, designed by Jason Williams maximises the space by growing upwards, growing food, plants for pollinators and using grasses to soften the impact of the prevailing wind.
And gold-winning container garden The Still Garden designed by Jane Porter, puts a modern take on the classic barrel planter. The moody space uses reclaimed whiskey barrels packed full of foliage plants and splashes of white, peach and purple, set against a grey slate wall.
RHS Chelsea Flower Show winners in full
Show Gardens
A Rewilding Britain Landscape
Designers: Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunt
Medal: Gold
Alder Hey Urban Foraging Station
Designers: Howard and Hugh Miller
Medal: Silver gilt
Brewin Dolphin Garden
Designer: Paul Hervey-Brookes
Medal: Silver
Hands off Mangrove by Grow2Know
Designer: Tayshan Hayden-Smith and Danny Clarke
Medal: Silver gilt
Medite Smart Ply Building the Future Garden
Designer: Sarah Eberle
Medal: Gold
Morris & Co.
Designer: Ruth Wilmot
Medal: Gold
The Meta Garden: Growing the Future
Designer: Joe Perkins
Medal: Gold
The Mind Garden
Designer: Andy Sturgeon
Medal: Gold
The New Blue Peter Garden - Discover Soil
Designer: Juliet Sargent
Medal: Silver Gilt
The Perennial Garden ‘With Love’
Designer: Richard Miers
Medal: Silver
The RAF Benevolent Fund Garden
Designer: John Everiss
Medal: Silver
The RNLI Garden
Designer: Chris Beardshaw
Medal: Gold
The St Mungo’s Putting Down Roots Garden
Designer: Cityscapes (Darryl Moore and Adolfo Harrison)
Medal: Silver
Sanctuary Gardens
A Garden Sanctuary by Hamptons
Designer: Tony Woods
Medal: Gold
A Swiss Sanctuary
Designer: Lilly Gomm
Medal: Bronze
Connected, by Exante
Designer: Taina Suonio
Medal: Silver Gilt
Kingston Maurward The Space Within Garden
Designer: Michelle Brown
Medal: Silver Gilt
Out of the Shadows
Designer: Kate Gould
Medal: Gold
The Body Shop Garden
Designer: Jennifer Hirsch
Medal: Silver Gilt
The Boodles Travel Garden
Designer: Thomas Holbyn
Medal: Gold
The Place2Be Securing Tomorrow Garden
Designer: Jamie Butterworth
Medal: Gold
The Plantman’s Ice Garden
Designer: John Warland
Medal: Silver Gilt
The SSAFA Garden
Designer: Amanda Waring
Medal: Silver
The Stitcher’s Garden
Designer: Frederic Whyte
Medal: Silver
All About Plants
A Textile Garden for a Fashion Revolution
Designer: Lottie Deamain
Medal: Silver Gilt
The Core Arts Front Garden Revolution
Designer: Andy Smith-Williams
Medal: Gold
The Mother of Mothers Garden - ‘This too Shall Pass’
Designer: Pollyanna Wilkinson
Medal: Silver
The Wilderness Foundation UK Garden
Designer: Charlie Hawkes
Medal: Gold
Balcony Gardens
Jay Day
Designer: Flock Party (Alison Orellana Malouf, Su-Yeon Angela Choi)
Medal: Bronze
The Blue Garden
Designer: Tom Wilkes-Rios
Medal: Silver
The Cirrus Garden
Designer: Jason Williams
Medal: Silver Gilt
The Potting Balcony Garden Sponsored by Viking
Designer: William Murray
Medal: Silver Gilt
Container Gardens
A Mediterranean Reflection
Designer: Tanya K Wilson and Johanna Norlin
Medal: Silver
Mandala, Meditation and Mindfulness Garden
Designer: Nikki Hollier
Medal: Silver
The Enchanted Rain Garden
Designer: Bea Tann
Medal: Silver Gilt
The Still Garden
Designer: Jane Porter
Medal: Gold
The Wild Kitchen Garden
Designer: Ann Treneman
Medal: Silver Gilt
