This year's Chelsea Flower Show is only weeks away, and details are still arriving about what visitors can expect.
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The RHS announced a series of new initiatives for this year's Show at its spring conference this week, including that a Feature Garden at Chelsea Flower Show would be made entirely of repurposed materials.
Designer Darryl Moore, of Cityscapes, will be creating the garden repurposed from key elements of RHS gardens dating back from as far as 2010. Corten steel columns will be taken from storage at Crocus.co.uk after appearing in Andy Sturgeon's The Daily Telegrah Garden, while Tom Massey's fountain and concrete benches from his 2018 The Lemon Tree Trust Garden will provide a place to rest in the garden.
The garden is being designed in order to highlight creative ways of reusing and recycling materials in garden design and will extend to the planting, which will be planted in crushed concrete and sand, taken from demolished buildings.
Planting in the garden will include hawthorn trees, grasses, Briza media and various Selseria species as well as local wildflowers.
Darryl said: “The world’s resources are limited. In order to build a sustainable and adaptive future in response to the challenges we face from the climate and biodiversity crisis, we need to look at ways to reuse and recycle materials we already have. At Cityscapes we’ve been re-using materials from RHS Shows for a decade, so I’m always on the lookout for things that might work well in future designs. I hope this garden will encourage more designers and visitors to do the same.”
All gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show have to live on in some form after the show, a condition that was implemented by the RHS last year. Gardens can be relocated in their entirety or broken down and used for a number of different projects depending on need and suitability, or parts might be repurposed. After the Show, every element of ‘RHS Chelsea Repurposed’ will go on to enjoy new lives that continue to benefit both people and wildlife.
The RHS also announced that children will be judging at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the first time. Seventy-two children from nine London primary schools will take place as junior judges to help determine the winner of the new RHS Children's Choice Award, the winner of which is revealed on the opening day of the show.
RHS director general, Clare Matterson, said: “The decision to include children as judges at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show reflects our commitment to cultivating a lifelong passion for gardening. The RHS Children’s Choice Award champions the unique perspective of young people and highlights the importance of nurturing a connection between children and the natural world.”
More gardens at Chelsea Flower Show
- All the Balcony and Container gardens at Chelsea Flower Show
- The full list of All About Plants Gardens at Chelsea
- Full list of Sanctuary Gardens
- Main Show gardens at Chelsea Flower Show
The RHS No Adults Allowed Garden is also the first time a garden has been designed by children for children. In order to access the garden, adults must pledge to do one of three things: plant a tree, donate to RHS campaign for school gardening, or find a flower that starts with the first letter of their name.
Growers will also be front and centre at this year's Chelsea Flower Show, at an immersive, walkthrough feature giving visitors an insight into a grower's daily life. The exhibit will give an insight into the work that goes into growing the plants on display at the flower show. RHS x UBS A Day on the nursery: insights into life as a grower will showcase four nurseries who specialise in edibles and wildflowers. These include Kent Wildflower Seeds, She Grows Veg, The Caley Brothers and Kitchen Garden Plant Centre.
Emma Tipping is designing the feature, who has been mentored by Rosy Hardy, and created the recent pub garden at the RHS's new Urban Show.
Don't miss our full list of Chelsea Flower Show gardens
