- Blossoming hedgerows, lush woodland and wildflower meadows will give the RHS Chelsea Flower show 2022 its most naturalistic feel in recent years
- 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
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, 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 wildlife-friendly havens.
A new garden category, All About Plants, which celebrates the many powers of plants will be the first garden category to feature in the Great Pavilion at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Outside, 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 wildlife-friendly, 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 ‘dream-like’ 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’.
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. More content, including the new ‘All About Plants’ garden category will be announced soon.
Show gardens 2022:
- Alder Hey Urban Foraging Station designed by Howard Miller and Hugh Miller
- MEDITE SMARTPLY ‘Building the Future’ designed by Sarah Eberle
- St Mungo’s Putting Down Roots Garden by Cityscapes (Darryl Moore & Adolfo Harrison)
- Brewin Dolphin Garden designed by Paul Hervey-Brookes
- The RNLI Garden designed by Chris Beardshaw
- Morris & Co. designed by Ruth Willmott
- ‘The Meta Garden: Growing the Future’ designed by Joe Perkins
- The Perennial Garden ‘With Love’, designed by Richard Miers
- The New Blue Peter Garden – Discover Soil by designer Juliet Sargeant
- The RAF Benevolent Fund Garden, reflecting on the Battle of Britain and designed by John Everiss
- A Rewilding Britain Landscape by Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunt
- The Mind Garden designed by Andy Sturgeon
Sanctuary gardens:
- The SSAFA Garden supported by CCLA and designed by Amanda Waring
- A Swiss Sanctuary by Lilly Gomm
- The Place2Be Securing Tomorrow Garden designed by Jamie Butterworth
- Circle of Life by Yoshihiro Tamura
- The Body Shop Garden designed by Jennifer Hirsch
- A Garden Sanctuary by Hamptons, designed by Tony Woods
- Out of the Shadows designed by Kate Gould
- The Boodles Travel Garden designed by Tom Hoblyn
- Kingston Maurward The Space Within Garden by Michelle Brown
- The Stitcher’s Garden designed by Frederic Whyte
To book tickets visit www.rhs.org.uk/chelsea
To find out more about The Newt in Somerset, visit https://thenewtinsomerset.com/