Come for the gardens, stay for the plants – the longer you linger in front of a show garden or get close to a nursery display in the Great Pavilion at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the more you begin to notice individual plants and how beguiling they are. From the headline winners of Plant of the Year, to tiny ground cover foliage nestling in the corner of a show garden, Chelsea really is all about the plants, and this year seemed to offer a particularly varied plant palette. Here’s a selection of nine that stood out.
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Nine great plants being used at Chelsea Flower Show
Valeriana officinalis
Chelsea is usually awash with umbellifers, each year a different species coming to the fore. This year’s must-have choice was Valerian officinalis, appearing on many of the gardens. Suitable for full sun or light shade, this umbellifer has upright, branching stems with umbles of white/pink-tinged flowers above a filigree foliage. A great perennial umbel that this year seemed to fit Chelsea’s remit of plant with purpose – the leaves can be used in herbal remedies and the flowers are rich in nectar.
Craspedia globosa
Bobbing along through Ann-Marie Powell’s uplifting Octavia Hill Garden, this little charmer isn’t often seen in show gardens – in fact I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it. More typically spheres come from alliums, so this felt as if Ann-Marie has given the form new Chelsea life. Craspedia have narrow, silvery-grey leaves on wiry stems. The drumsticks are bright yellow and are popular in dried flower displays. I can’t help wondering if these cheerful, small bobbles caught the imagination of the schoolchildren who were also judging the gardens and chose Ann-Marie’s as their Children's Choice winner.
Cytisus ‘Lena’
Back with a bang, broom had definitely fallen out of garden favour but with drier summers (assuming you have well-drained soil to also cope with overly wet winter) we could be about to see brooms make a come-back. Cytisus ‘Lena’ featured on Miria Harris' garden for the Stroke Association. The colour blend of red, orange and yellow packed a punch on the garden, bouncing the eye through the space. The arching stems fit perfectly with our more relaxed approach to gardens, away from more formally shaped shrubs. I also spotted ‘Boskop Ruby’ on the Burncoose nursery stand – an intense ruby red.
Digitalis ‘Appleblossom’
A new foxglove featured on Digitalis experts The Botanic Nursery stand. Perennial foxgloves are proving increasingly popular for their slightly more predictable habit than the exuberantly self-seeding Digitalis purpurea. They also suit containers well, just as this one does, growing to just 60cm. It has spires of soft pink flowers with a characterful split corolla, emerging in May and lasting until July. Works well in sun or part shade.
Geranium nodosum ‘Fielding’s Folly’
Spotted on Derry Watkins’ Special Plants nursery stand in the Great Pavilion, this little hardy geranium was really striking. Geranium nodosums are brilliant doers with ‘Fielding’s Folly’ adding to its serrated, bright green leaves, eye-catching, velvety-purple flowers. These repeat flower from May through to September and grow happily in light shade or sun. Derry adds that it is slug resistant and ‘so easy to grow’. That pretty much seals the deal for me.
Saruma henryi
Garden writer and Gardens Illustrated contributor Jodie Jones referred to this plant on Tom Stuart-Smith’s National Garden Scheme garden (it was also in a pot on Ula Maria's Muscular Dystrophy UK garden) as feeling ‘like a box of baby hamsters’. Who can resist such a description? This ground cover perennial, native to shady woodland in China, has softly hairy, heart-shaped leaves in pale green. Adding sparkle to Tom’s understorey were the plant’s pretty yellow, three-petalled flowers. It was Tom Stuart-Smith who brought to light for many gardeners the now oft-seen wild ginger Asarum europaeum, so it seems fitting that Saruma, a near relative of Asarum, should be catching everyone’s eye on Tom’s garden this year. Saruma is in fact an anagram of Asarum.
Agave ‘Praying Hands’
Winner of third place in RHS Plant of Year category, this succulent is likely to find favour across the gardening generations. Agave ‘Praying Hands’ perfectly describes the shape of the upcurved leaves, which form a tight, upright, teardrop shape, each leaf tipped in a maroon spike. Although this is hardy to -5 degrees C, I can see it sitting well with many house plant collectors too. It requires little watering, making it an easy introduction to succulent growing. I’m told it also looks cute when its small.
Chionanthus retusus
It wasn’t just the slide that was a talking point on Harry Holding’s RHS No Adults Allowed garden. The Chinese fringe tree was causing a stir too. This slow-growing tree grabs attention in late spring when it produces clusters of fragrant white, long-petalled flowers that give the tree a fringed effect. Textured bark and glossy leaves add to the tree’s attractions too. It wasn’t the first time the tree had featured at Chelsea – but it was the first time it had been seen in flower, more usually flowering earlier in the year. It thrives moist soil in full sun. The tree won the Tree of the Show Award, with a trophy presented to Harry by tree expert Tony Kirkham.
Acer tataricum subsp. ginnala
I spotted this tree when it arrived at Chelsea the week before the show and even amid the chaos it caught my attention. It was a delight then to see it holding pride of place in the gold-medal winning (and Best in Category winning) The Ecotherapy Garden designed by Tom Bannister in the Balcony & Container section. Noted as a tree choice with good pollution and drought resistance, it grows well as a multistem, making it a good choice for smaller spaces and in containers (as here). Its fresh green leaves turn a stunning orange-red in autumn.
