Chelsea week 2025

I always watch the BBC coverage of the RHS Chelsea flower show and this year is no exception.  I have never been to the show and am not likely to, as it is expensive, crowded and the tickets sell out so fast.  The TV coverage gives me a much better view of the gardens than I would get at the show.  All the photos are from the RHS website.  

I usually judge the gardens by whether I would like them outside my back door! 

Benches and water features have seemed to be a focus for me this year.  Above is a rather lovely large water bowl and bench  from the ADHD Foundation garden designed by Katy Terry.  This garden will live on at the University of Liverpool.

If I had to choose one favourite garden, it would probably be this one, The Glasshouse Garden by Jo Thompson. I like the snaking rill in the path.

The planting in The Glasshouse garden was lovely too, with the rich reds, pinks and purples.  These rich colours can be seen in lots of other gardens. This garden is going to a women's prison in the South of England.

The RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden was designed by Monty Don, the main presenter of Gardeners' World and showed some lovely, gentle, naturalistic planting.  

I like all the greens around the path here.  

I liked the copper water feature in the Down Syndrome Scotland garden, designed by Nick Burton and Duncan Hall.  This garden will go to a garden at the Palacerigg Country Park in Scotland.

My favourite water feature was in the Pathway Garden by Allon Hoskin and Robert Beaudin.  Very simple, a bowl carved out of a stone. This garden is going to the Shekinah Centre in Devon, which supports people experiencing homelessness.

Really beautiful.  I would love this in my garden!

The London Square Chelsea Pensioners' Garden had this inviting path to explore, with another still water feature.  Designed by Dave Green, this garden is moving a few metres away to the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, so that the Chelsea Pensioners can enjoy it.

This bench also caught my eye, made from a tree trunk in the Garden of the Future by Matthew Butler and Josh Parker.  

To see all the gardens, there is a link to the website here.

A new David Austin rose was launched and it is one I have my eye on. called The King's Rose, it is similar to Rosa Versicolor (Rosa Mundi) but is repeat flowering.  It may well be added to my collection - perhaps not now, but in the future...

RHS Chelsea week...and in my garden - all the As (along with a few others)

Chelsea Garden photos from the RHS Chelsea website

I have been enjoying the TV coverage of RHS Chelsea over the last week.  It is always interesting to see what the designers, construction teams and gardeners come up with.  I haven't ever visited the show myself, nor am I likely to - way too many people for comfort!  Sustainability, gardening with nature and the gardens being relocated after the show seemed to be themes this year, which are all good.  I liked bits of a few gardens including the area above from The Myeloma A Life Worth Living Garden by Chris Beardshaw.  My criteria is 'would I like this outside my back door?'  In the case above, yes I would, a lovely calm green space with ferns and a water feature. 

I also liked the Royal Entomological Society garden by Tom Massey with its wildlife and insect friendly (as you would expect!) planting.  The colours this year seem to be green, white and magenta/purple, and these could be seen on a lot of the gardens. 

There were some beautifully designed, constructed and planted stage sets such as Cleve West's Centrepoint garden, showing how nature takes over a derelict Victorian Terrace and bringing homelessness into focus.  I can appreciate this, but wouldn't want it outside my back door! 

With Chelsea over for another year,  what is happening in my garden?  It's the As - Alliums, Aquilegias and Astrantias.  Above is allium Purple Sensation.

I don't know that name of this allium, but is is another lovely one.  I think I may need more of these in the autumn.

Aquilegia Navy and White was the starting point for my aquilegias but they seem to have changed as they have self seeded about.

I like the darker purple of this one.

I do like an astrantia and have several of the darker ones.  Above is Star of Love or Star of Fire - I'm not sure which. This one is in the border.

Astrantia Burgundy Manor is in a pot and I love this one.  It is a stunner!  I have got three Astrantia Roma young plants growing on, which should be a nice pink shade.  I hope they will flower next year.

Other plants making a show at the moment are Philadelphus Little White Love. This took a while to get going but has started to grow and flower profusely.  As with most Philadelphus, it has a lovely scent.

The peony I repotted last autumn has rewarded me with more flowers than it has ever had.  

My latest camassia, Silk River, is nearly in flower so I am checking it every morning at the moment.   I am really enjoying the garden and the sunny weather has helped a lot, particularly after the cold Spring.  I have lost two agapanthus plants which were overwintered in the shed and obviously did not like the cold snap last December, and a few other small plants, but I am realistic and it just means I can replace them with something else (like another rose?) Funnily enough, I have got my eye on a new rose by David Austin, Dannahue.  I don't really have room for any more roses, but may have to squeeze this one in.  Speaking of roses, they have started flowering, so there will be a couple of posts to come... 

RHS Chelsea - on TV

I always enjoy the RHS Chelsea coverage on TV.  I have never been to the show and I think I would find it too claustrophobic.  However, as a TV viewer, you can see far more than if you were actually there.  As always, here is a (totally biased) view of my favourite gardens.  I think this year the gardens are all 'playing safe' - possibly to do with the unsettled political climate.  They are all very green in colour too and many feature woodland areas.

The photos are all from the RHS Chelsea site:  https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/Gardens

 I like the wall with the circular window in it in the Harmonious Garden of Life.  The swing seat powers the water feature, there is clover instead of lawn and the planting is all about insects.

 The Family Monsters Garden is a lovely slice of woodland.

 This is probably my favourite garden - The Donkey Sanctuary Donkeys Matter garden.  I like the idea behind it, of celebrating the work donkeys do all over the world, often in harsh conditions.

 I really like the planting in this garden.

 Andy Sturgeon's garden for M & G won best in show and again feature woodland planting interspersed with blackened timber structures.  (Nice to think that my own black fence is still on trend!)

Chris Beardshaw's garden for Morgan Stanley  has some beautiful planting, as always.

Finally, the Miles Stone Kingston Maurward Garden has some lovely curves and a wide rusted bowl water feature.
There were elements of lots of the other gardens that I liked, but these were the gardens that appealed most to me from the TV coverage.
I am going to RHS Chatsworth in a couple of weeks and am really looking forward to that.
Edited to add:

The Back to Nature Garden designed in collaboration with the Duchess of Cambridge (but not judged) was a big success with the children allowed on it.  It is another woodland garden including a treehouse, rope swing, fire pit, running water and looks like the sort of garden we would have all loved as children.