‘A Very English Garden’ inspired by the Arts & Crafts Movement.
The Chelsea Flower Show this year was a good one, it’s inspiring to see how over the years, many of the designs have adapted to the world we live in now.
Generally the Show isn’t so much about show-casing gardens to look at & admire anymore, but to inspire visitors with ideas for their own gardens, the benefits of gardens as places to relax, grow good food, help transform the lives of people with mental health issues are highlighted, & there’s much emphasis on sustainability. Gardens have the potential to have a powerful effect on our lives.
These were a few of my favourites.
The Lemon Tree Trust Garden:
The design is inspired by refugees, mainly from Syria, who live in a camp in Domiz, Iraq.
The Lemon Tree Trust supports people in the camp who’ve made gardens to grow food for themselves & improve their lives a little with beautiful gardens.
The selection of plants for the garden was done with the help of Sami Youssef, a former refugee & resident of the camp, who has a PhD in plant ecology.
Beautiful plants in The Lemon tree Trust Garden designed by Tom Massey.
A Very English Garden:
A perfect little garden, inspired by The Arts & Crafts Movement designed by Janine Crimmins.
The dry stone walls were crisp & neat with sumptuous flower borders at either side. I love the symmetry of this type of garden, & the plants around the base of the urn in the centre were a nice touch.
The M & G Garden:
This was such an interesting garden, full of views from different angles & lovely combinations of plants.
The idea was to evoke a haven in a warm, sunny climate & the plants, earthy colours & materials cleverly managed to combine & do just that.
Designed by Sarah Price.
The Weston Garden:
Grateful to sit in this lovely space on this beautiful, contemporary seat, with books by Tom Stuart-Smith on the coffee table, a cup of tea would have been perfect.
This was my favourite garden this year, no reliance here on bright colours or fancy tricks to grab your attention.
It’s not a show garden & therefore wasn’t judged, & was in the middle of the Great Marquee, rather than out on Main Avenue alongside the show gardens.
It had large trees creating a private feel in the middle of the busy marquee & there was topiary, clipped into fluid, organic shapes rather than formal ones. There were swathes of plants positioned together to make the most of their textures, hardly any flowers, simply different shades of green foliage. Nicely wide, open areas of neat paving, using those small bricks that take ages to lay, & look so classy.
A beautifully understated garden, but not in a way that makes you work to see its beauty.
I hope you managed to see the show this year, there are programmes to watch on the B.B.C. every day this week & a few tickets for the Show available, here.
Find out more about The Lemon Tree Trust & the work they do in refugee camps, bringing people together, providing seeds, plants & education here.
The next post will be about plants at The Show.
Jill
all photos: Jill Anderson.
Love hearing about Chelsea Jill and especially reading more about the Lemon Tree Trust.
Hi Jude, how nice to hear from you. The Lemon Tree garden was so well done & I felt very moved by it.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the post. Jill
Your favourites are my favourites! I particularly love A Very English Garden, both the planting and the very skilful structure. I went to Chelsea yesterday and had a fantastic day. Have been watching the evening programs on tv but have been a bit disappointed with them!
Hi Sandra, A Very English Garden was so easy to like! I thought Chelsea was particularly good this year.
Thanks for your comments! Jill