The Chelsea Report

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show sets the pace for gardening worldwide and this year small spaces, urban gardening and local plant life lead the way, writes George Plumptre.

- George Plumptre

My catchphrase for this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show was ‘small is beautiful’. In a year when there was no stand-out star amongst the main show gardens, for my money some smaller gardens and exhibitors took centre stage.

Our National Garden Scheme visitors confirmed that there is growing interest in small urban gardens and Chelsea’s group, the Space to Grow Gardens, provided lots of quality and interest. The ‘Pearlfisher’ garden, designed by John Warland, exemplified the ingenious design of this category. I particularly admired the structure and planting of the ‘Urban Flow’ garden designed by Tony Woods, which featured one of my all-time favourite plants, the diminutive Cornus canadensis. And plants were particularly celebrated in the ‘Seedlip’ garden designed by Catherine MacDonald, which used only members of the pea plant family. All three gardens deservedly won gold medals.