RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018 | Garden Designer

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018. Much of the hype suggested it was going to be a vintage year. So has it stood up to the description?

As the world renowned London gardening show reaches its final day, we offer you a selection of highlights from the show gardens, the artisan gardens, the fresh gardens and the Great Pavilion.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018 – the Great Pavilion

There’s always so much to see in the Great Pavilion; it really deserves a separate visit. A whole day to really find out all the fascinating facts in the Discovery Zone, discuss the various merits of the Plant of the Year and Product of the Year finalists.

RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year – the top three

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018 – Exhibitors

These guys can be found in the Great Pavilion and around the site. Some of them have significant anniversaries this year, including Perter Beales Roses who are celebrating 50 years with a new rose. Whilst Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants has a 30-year anniversary and is introducing Galliarda ‘Honey Apricot’. Alpine and drought tolerant plants are the focus for D’Arcy & Everest’s 25th Anniversary.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018 – Show Gardens

The category that usually gets the most mentions, these are the largest gardens at Chelsea.

The Wedgewood Garden
With colours inspired by the tea cups of Joshua Wedgewood, this has a soft palette.

The M&G Garden
A painterly inspired haven set in a warm climate.

The David Harber and Savills Garden
A theatre of a garden with sculpture and planting and even a worm hole. Our favourite show garden.

The Morgan Stanley Garden for the NSPCC
Much of the planting in this garden was grown by Chris Beardshaw himself. The design aims to raise awareness for the work the NSPCC does.

The Trailfinders South African Wine Estate. Garden
This garden is a snapshot of a typical South African wine estate. Loved the Cape Dutch homestead.

Welcome to Yorkshire Garden
Bringing the Yorkshire Dales to London’s embankment! The spade in the vegetable garden, smoke coming from the chimney and dry stone walls…

VTB Capital Garden – Spirit of Cornwall
Inspired by world famous British sculptor Barbara Hepworth, this garden celebrates the 40th anniversary of her own garden in St Ives.

The Lemon Tree Trust Garden
The Lemon Tree Trust supports refugees to grow their own food; the garden is inspired by this work.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018 – Artisan Gardens

These smaller gardens are often easier for visitors to relate to; being on a more domestic scale.

The Embroidered Minds Epilepsy Garden
This garden represents the different stages of a seizure; the planting included Valeriana officianalis, one of the first epilepsy drugs. National Epilepsy Week was May 14-20.

The Claims Guys: A Very English Garden
Inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement, with a focal point of a dry stone half-domed niche. The work of an artisan indeed.

British Council Garden – India: A Billion Dreams
The hopes and dreams of young people in India inspired this garden. We particularly liked the oversized cricket balls and stumps.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018 –Space to Grow Gardens

A new category for 2018, showcasing ideas for us all to include in our gardens.

The CHERUB HIV Garden: A Life Without Walls
A metaphor of the journey a young person living with HIV has to make.

The Myeloma UK Garden
A garden inspired by myeloma, an incurable form of blood cancer. A very evocative sculpture.

The Pearlfisher Garden
Celebrates the beauty of the gardens underwater and reminding us of the fragility of the seas.

So was it a vintage RHS Chelsea? Yes and no was the Plews View. We were surprised at what was missing. Nothing on Humphry Repton, the last great landscape designer of the 18th Century, who died 200 years ago. No mention of 1918 and the end of WW1 either, except for one poster.

If you’d like to compare this year with previous years, why not download our eBook, RHS Chelsea Flower Show – the Plews View. Available directly from our website.
And if you would like to talk with us about designing your own ‘Chelsea garden’, please get in touch!