Brimming with vibrant colour schemes and creative garden designs, this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024 was a showstopper!
Bursting with a stunning assortment of show gardens and sustainable design techniques, this year’s show was filled with innovation and exceptionally unique garden inspiration. A fabulous horticultural celebration, Chelsea Flower Show is a glorious day for all ages to enjoy and it was as busy as ever this year. So if you didn’t get a chance to pop down and take a look for yourself then do not worry! Read on to discover the main trends and design ideas that we spotted circulating at this year’s show.
Water Features
Water is a key garden design element predominant throughout many of the feature gardens this year at Chelsea. A prime example that we spotted straight away this year was the stone water butt at The National Garden Scheme Garden. Designed by Tom Stuart-Smith, we love how this stone water butt beautifully illustrates how sustainable garden strategies can be seamlessly blended into your garden’s design. Allowing you access to recycled water, this water butt harvests water collected from the shed roof and feeds it back into the trough from a terracotta gutter.
Plunge pools, flowing water and rills were also embedded throughout a number of garden designs. In the Balcony and Container Gardens section, Tom Bannister’s Ecotherapy Garden demonstrated how effortlessly water can be sculpted into your landscape to create a peaceful and heavenly garden escape. Encompassing a plunge pool, rill, and collection of basins, this design focuses on how water gardens can enhance mental and physical well-being.
Mixing Materials
Building the foundation of your garden design, mixing materials is a stylish way to create a smart and polished garden scene. Adding a variety of different tones and textures to your outdoor spaces, we saw lots of designers using a range of materials from sandy York pavers to crisp gravel chippings. An effective technique, mixing materials is fantastic for adding visual interest to any gardenscape.
The Pulp Friction garden designed by Will Dutch and Tin-Tin Azure-Marxen is a wonderful example of how we can mix materials in garden design. Using a variety of recycled and locally sourced materials, such as reclaimed wood, replenished paving and pots, this heavenly garden is a prime example of how reclaimed materials can be used to breathe life into any outdoor space.
Curves and bends
From curved seating areas to twisting and winding pathways, curves were seen throughout a variety of gardens at this year’s show. Created by Helen Olney, the Burma Skincare Initiative Spirit of Partnership Garden was a wonderful example of how curves can be used to maximise garden space to create greater visual interest in your landscape. Guiding you around the garden, curved pathways are excellent for allowing you to explore the different perspectives and blooms concealed within your outdoor space.
Ground level lighting
Framing a safe and idyllic nighttime landscape, lighting is an essential element for any garden design that allows you to enjoy your outdoor spaces from the daytime into the night. Softly illuminating your garden, low-level lighting is a great way to enhance your garden and brings as little disruption as possible to garden wildlife. Low-level lighting techniques such as path lights and statement spike lights were dotted throughout a number of show gardens at Chelsea this year, beautifully demonstrating how you can easily introduce garden lighting into your very own gardenscape.
Looking to infuse an essence of Chelsea Flower Show into your home? Talk to our specialist garden designers today to discuss how we can implement some of Chelsea’s latest trends into your gardenscape?
