Planting at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Whether you went to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year for a fun day out, maybe with the intention of buying a canopy or simply for some inspiration for your garden design, if you found yourself lucky enough to grab a ticket and visit some of the incredible show gardens and trade stands at the RHS Chelsea Flower show this year, you would have experienced a taste of some of the best talent from all over the UK, including us (wink wink).
If you did manage to catch us at any time during the week, you would’ve seen not only our incredibly impressive canopies and outdoor kitchens, but also our cleverly designed planting. Did you know we also designed and planted for two other major trade stands this year?! So even if you didn’t see the Garden House Design stand, you hopefully would’ve seen some of our work.
Our wonderfully talented Design Director, Cherry Carmen, also a trained and practising horticulturalist, designed each of the gardens this year. Just like the pro she is, she knew exactly what to do with the briefs.
As well as beautiful planting at the entrances and throughout our stand, we were able to create a dedicated living mint wall right next to our Renson Amani. Not only was it popular with the influencers as an amazing photo opportunity, but on our last few days we were able to pick the mint and use it in some refreshing drinks, just in time for the sun to come out. Including our signature mojitos and gin cocktails. This was such a great way for us to showcase the creativity that GHD can bring to garden design, and speciality planting for our clients designs.
Some of our planting favourites from this year included our acer tree. Blending perfectly with the darker hues and tones of the styling influenced by travelling experiences around the world. Placed beside our Renson Camargue, it had the perfect backdrop to showcase its beautiful colours. “Following the theme of travel and exploration of culture and living outdoors, making sure the planting brought everything together to create a space of tranquility and calm was essential”, Cherry says, “we wanted to create a feeling for guests who came on the stand, that they could be anywhere in the world.”. With bright exotic trees originating in Australia- like the Dicksonia Antarctica commonly known as soft fern trees, and dark purple leaves from the acer tree, and a hidden water feature running throughout the floor level planting.
Implementing a source of light into our planting design was also essential to creating a well rounded stand. With the help of the Landscape Plus team and their expert advice on using outdoor lighting to our advantage we were able to create a welcoming and soft but vibrant atmosphere. As the sun set in the evenings, the lighting beautifully illuminated the gorgeous greenery. This year, for our secret garden we decided to go for in-lite outdoor lighting. Specifically, we loved the BREEZE collection that was designed purposefully to look like it was naturally occurring within the planting. As well as BREEZE we also had SWAY installed onto our Millboard imitation wall. This was an amazing way to create more light and ambiance in the secret garden, especially as the evenings started to get dark.
If you’d like to read more about our lighting and planting combinations, with in-lite and Landscape Plus, please read our Introduction to In-Lite blog. Alternatively, please feel free to get in contact with the Garden House Design team.
After a very successful show, and with all the incredible planting from this year, you will definitely want to keep your eyes peeled for what’s in store for next year's planting plan. Linked below is our planting list from the year, for the full details. We can’t wait to see you next year!
