Chelsea: The Prettiest Bits

I know it’s all over but…

Here are my favourite bits - I’m staying shallow here, with six gardens I loved, just for their beauty.

I went, for the first time, to the evening event - which is worth another post, because I think we need to talk about canapés (good, and bad). But here are six beautiful gardens. I didn’t take many pictures, so I’m linking to the RHS website where you can see great pictures of each one to get a better view.

Arts Garden by Nigel Dunnett

Most of the pictures I took were of this garden; it’s like a jewel box. Dunnett has created sand dune structures using corten steel, planted up with the prettiest seaside plants - lots of Armeria maritima, lupins and other beauties. Soft, soft colours, along with the sand make it feel ephemeral, and that feeling is balanced by the steel, and a corrugated iron artists ‘bothy’. I love the pine trees too, which give a much needed second storey. Very, very pretty.

City Garden by Caroline and Peter Clayton for Me&Em

This was one of a number of balcony gardens. I loved it because of the rough pink render, the green tiles and the black pergola structure (all of which I have in my own garden at home). Restrained colour palette (basically green and soft bruised purple), which definitely works, especially as it has been designed for ‘Me&Em woman’. If you don’t know Me&Em, it’s a high-ish end clothing brand, aimed at professional women who want to look considered and elegant, but also fashion-forward, and this garden is an illustration of exactly that. I loved the sweet-peas, although I think a bit more cover on the pergola would have served the whole thing a little better.

Dog Garden by Monty Don

Turn me into a dog IMMEDIATELY please. Cirsium, ferns, geum, nepeta, lupins, structural, not-too-tightly-clipped balls, actual tennis balls…a bit chewed…a slightly scrubby lawn. Impeccable colours, not too ‘done’…so very Monty. I loved the shallow pool, and the shed, and the pots of glorious frilly iris. Honestly, this was an object lesson in how to do laid-back loveliness; entirely my kind of garden.

Glasshouse Garden by Jo Thompson

Not my pic - but I had to put one in of this view…go to Instagram or Jo’s substack for more

This garden literally made me catch my breath. The covered, dappled secrecy of it, and the colours were just exquisite. She’s put copper beech mounds to keep things grounded, and she’s left them slightly shaggy and then it’s all about the roses - an embarrassment of them - all smooshing together in this tranquil soft, slightly bruised pinkish-purplish haze. Poppies too, and the waftiness continues with the multi-stemmed trees which slightly screen out the structure at the end. This is made out of recycled acrylic which has been very subtly tinted in the same bruised blush colours and can open up completely so you can see through the whole thing, or close it up as you wish. As close to a dream as it’s possible to be when you’re awake, I think. Heaven. Jo’s excellent, info-rich, enthusiasm-filled Substack is here and I love it.

Hospice UK Garden by Tom Hoblyn

Pink render, dry stone walls, hoggin paths and soft, soft, soft mediterranean planting. I loved the poppies, and the grasses, and the sculptural wooden seating (lots of it) that moulds to the body. He’s put in several multi-stemmed Arbutus andrachne (strawberry tree) and I love the way the stems talk to the colour of the paths. It’s utterly beautiful and tranquil.

Humanity Garden by John Warland and Tom Bannister for British Red Cross

This garden was so clever; they’ve created a good old fashioned rock garden, using a mixture of hexagonal concrete blocks and containers which fit together. The planting is both inside some of the hexagons and around them, and there’s water running through the whole thing, with lots of stepping stones, and multiple ways in which you can explore on so many different levels. Most of all, it’s fun, and I think fun is crucial in a garden. Of all the gardens at Chelsea this year, I think my children would enjoy this one the most. Beautiful planting with alpines and the concrete is softened not only by this, but also because the whole thing reminds one of a human-sized bee hive.

Please tell me what your favourite bit of Chelsea was? Actually, also tell me your least favourite, and whether you bought anything. I usually go madly shopping when I’m there but I couldn’t this time because they were all closed.

I need to tell you about an extraordinary garden I visited recently, and so many other things, but it’s bloody old half term. I have a love/hate relationship with half term. Intense happiness because everyone is everywhere, and intense annoyance because everyone is everywhere.

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x Laetitia