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RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Spring back to RHS Chelsea 2022
Wildlife-friendly hawthorn looks to be among the horticultural stars of this year’s RHS Chelsea, which returns to the spring season after a two year absence
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Gardens teeming with native plants that benefit wildlife will take centre stage at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022, sponsored for the first time by The Newt in Somerset, as the show makes its anticipated return to the spring season from 24 – 28 May 2022.
Garden designers at the world’s most famous flower show are encouraging gardeners to embrace the wild and bring nature back, using native species rarely seen at RHS Chelsea to transform green spaces into wildlifefriendly havens.
Hawthorn will feature prominently alongside other woodland trees and shrubs including hazel, crab apple, weeping willow and hornbeam. Visitors can expect to see swathes of green speckled with whites, creams and pinks throughout the show. Wild plants such as nettles, cow parsley, poppies and nectar-rich buttercups will add to the pastel colour palette and continue the wildlifefriendly, naturalistic theme.
Highlighting the ecological benefits of a wilded landscape, first-time RHS Chelsea designers Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunt are using native plants, including hawthorn and field maples, to demonstrate the dramatic transformation of land through beaver reintroductions.
‘The Meta Garden: Growing the Future’ takes its inspiration from the British countryside and will feature almost 3000 plants and trees including sweet chestnut. Designer Joe Perkins aims to highlight the connection between plants and fungi in our woodland ecosystems.
Brothers Howard and Hugh Miller return for their second RHS Chelsea, designing a space with Alder Hey Children’s Charity. With a colour scheme inspired by the whites, creams and pinks of apple blossom, a ‘hedge tunnel’, a meadow and an orchard will conjure a ‘dreamlike’ quality.
The championing of biodiversity-rich spaces continues in the Sanctuary Gardens. For example, rich and vibrant green woodland planting and a immersive tree canopy will create a feeling of connectedness with nature in ‘A Garden Sanctuary by Hamptons’, while Kate Gould's garden 'Out of the Shadows' (see page 28) cleverly marrys modern lifestyle with inspirational outdoor spaces.
Other themes include sustainability, climate change, the mental, physical and social benefits of gardens as well as a celebration of institutions such as the RNLI and the RAF.
Says Helena Pettit, RHS Director of gardens and shows: “The show is jam-packed with stunning gardens and inspirational displays and with an abundance of wildlife-friendly planting, we won’t be the only ones buzzing!”
For full details of the show and gardens visit:
