Preview: RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Preview: RHS Chelsea Flower Show

The RHS has unveiled this year’s Chelsea Flower Show gardens and the world’s most famous flower show is set to be another cracker.

Among well-known garden designers bringing cutting-edge ideas and trend-setting style to Main Avenue this year will be Sarah Price, Jo Thompson and TV gardener Chris Beardshaw. First timers include Tom Massey, whose garden is inspired by a refugee community in northern Iraq, and former RHS Young Designer Tony Woods, demonstrating how best to use urban green spaces.

There are ten full-sized show gardens, including a Mediterranean haven, a futuristic ‘eco-city’ and a recreation of a South African wine estate. A whole new category, ‘Space to Grow’, sets out to inspire with take-home ideas you can recreate in your own backyard. Designs here include Kate Gould’s ‘West End Secret Garden’, highlighting the use of environmentally positive technology, and ‘Pearlfisher’s Garden’ by John Warland celebrating the beauty of underwater landscapes.

The Artisan Gardens will be extended once again this year with highlights from multi-gold medal winning Japanese designer Kazuyuki Ishihara, Sarah Eberle with a garden celebrating India’s love of cricket, and Paul Hervey-Brookes depicting the importance of wellbeing in the Nordic way of life.

And as always there will be breathtaking displays of floral perfection in the Great Pavilion from over 90 of the country’s finest growers and nurseries. New exhibitors this year include Kells Bay House and Gardens, with a fabulous display of ferns, and carnivorous plants from North Yorkshire based specialists Wack’s Wicked Plants.

You’ll even have the chance to visit the show after dark; on Friday for the first time, Ranelagh Gardens is staying open to the public late, for an evening of live music, entertainment and of course fabulous gardens.

The Chelsea Flower Show runs from 22-26 May: for tickets and more details visit the RHS website