Chelsea Flower Show 2014 - Garden Design Ideas

Chelsea Flower Show 2014 – Garden Design Ideas. It is fairly essential for a garden designer to attend RHS Chelsea Flower Show if they possibly can. Arguably to go round saying “I did that last year!” as often as “Now there’s a good flower combination”.

But Chelsea is about more than the flowers, the stunning water features and the top end sandstone pavers. It is about more than the show gardens; often you’ll find an original idea in the artisan retreat gardens. And the fresh gardens often have a tale to tell. This year we saw an oak tree covered in a shroud; a reminder of the devastation that oak processionary moth can wreak.

We saw plenty to inspire us; so here are a few choice garden design ideas for you.

Chelsea Flower Show 2014 Garden Design Ideas – water

The Brandalley Renaissance garden was mainly water; a cool pool of green to reflect the pavillion and give the impression of a lawn.

Blue Iris feature in both these gardens, nestling up against still water and gentle waterspouts.

Not all the water was calming; we loved this explosive, moving fountain caught up in a twining metal sphere.

Chelsea Flower Show 2014 Garden Design Ideas – seating and entertainment

Every garden should have somewhere to sit. Whether that’s a chamomile seat in an arbour, a single chair by the back door or a Viking ship strewn with furs…

Gardens are sometimes referred to as ‘the room outside’; this garden design idea may be too extreme for most of us but has some individual elements which are useable.
The pink painted and moss edged table is absolutely wonderfu. Although having a pink stags head on your garden fence could be a step too far, using a repeat colour for garden sundries that match some of your flowers is one way to make a small space seem larger.

I remember when Chelsea Flower Show wasn’t a shopping experience as well as a garden show and we heard quite a few adverse comments about the amount of retail outlets that were there this year. But you can find some quirky garden sundries that in themselves are fun as well as giving us some garden design ideas for clients who like something a bit different.

Chelsea Flower Show 2014 – Garden design ideas – colour

For Hari and I a visit to RHS Chelsea Flower Show begins and ends with a fun trip on an old red London bus.

This in itself can be an inspiration; the tightly curving stairs reminding me of the way honeysuckle twines through hedges.

And look what we saw in one of the artisan gardens – this soft white clematis growing through a yew hedge.

The Topiarist Garden was indeed a subtle green and white picture, offering interest from the vertical shapes of corkscrew topiary, climbing rose and white foxgloves, delightfully contrasted against the warm terracotta of the brick walls and tiled roof.

But colour can be bright – Hari’s favourite was this Gerbera, third prize winner in the Plant of theYear

The dark purples and bronze of these Iris caught the eyes of many a person; vibrant in the sunshine and richly sombre in the shade.

Last year RHS Chelsea Flower Show was celebrating 100 Years of Gardening in London. This year, remembering the start of the First World War was a theme and an element in many gardens. Poppies of one variety or another elbowed their way in to gardens and display stands alike. But shouldn’t gardens be able to encompass the whole range of human needs and emotions?