Were you lucky enough to be one of the 165,000 visitors who attended this year’s world famous Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show? While some of the most spectacular displays are far too elaborate to re-create at home, the Chelsea Flower Show is a great source of inspiration for gardeners. Here Nelson Potter, who sells a wide range of timber garden products in the Suffolk area, throws the spotlight on four ideas from the 2015 Chelsea Flower Show that you can incorporate in your own garden.
Adding Greenery to Your Front Garden – Following in the footsteps of RHS’s campaign ‘Greening Grey Britain’, nurse Sean Murray from Northumberland created a front garden at the show that featured plants and a parking space. All his hard work paid off as he won the BBC’s Great Chelsea Garden Challenge.
As part of the RHS’s campaign it was revealed that as many as three fifths of UK front gardens have been paved over for parking, with 3.5 million gardens lost to concrete over the last 15 years. The RHS argues that even where space is tight in your garden you can still add greenery. Some of the ideas that you could introduce in your own front garden include installing wooden trellising for climbing plants, filling planters with colourful blooms, planting boundary hedges, or, if you have the room, a few well placed trees. This all adds colour to this space and helps brighten up your home.
Creating Your Own Tranquil Retreat – Garden designer Jo Thompson also won an award at this year’s show for her M&G Garden, named after her sponsors, which featured a two-storey oak framed building, a swimming pond, tumbling roses, decking and a shaded seating area. While creating a similar romantic sanctuary requires both space and time, it is possible to do something like this on a smaller scale.
You could recreate the look in your own garden in several ways. Ideas include having an archway seat adorned with scented climbing roses, installing wooden decking with a covered seating area, or building a small pond with a few koi carp to add interest to your garden.
Inspiring the Senses in Your Back Garden – Another memorable garden idea was James Basson’s Perfumer’s Garden from L’Occitane, which contained a multitude of scented flowers and shrubs. The garden was dedicated to all the senses and included a host of aromatic delights such as rosemary, rose and thyme.
A simple idea to try at home is to create a herb garden, featuring fragrant herbs such as mint and basil. It also gives you all the convenience of having easy access to the plants, as and when you need them, and you can impress your family and friends with your culinary delights.
Rock Gardens and Wild Landscapes – A number of garden designers in this year’s flower show used boulders with wild flowers in their exhibits. This included Dan Pearson’s Laurent-Perrier Chatsworth Garden which won Best Show Garden.
If you like this idea, you might want to recreate a wild garden on a smaller scale. Perhaps trickle a fountain of water over rocks to create a peaceful retreat even in the busiest area of town. Placing wooden garden seating nearby will create a relaxing haven.
This year The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and Prince Harry were among the royals who visited the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show staged at the Royal Hospital Chelsea over a five day period. Among the many highlights included a towering sculpture of ceramic tulips, a tea party display covered in flowers and a Southern African themed garden.
Contact Nelson Potter for high quality timber garden products including garden furniture, decking, fencing, gates, wooden garden trellis, garages, sheds, workshops and log cabins. Click on the link above to find out more.