Chelsea 2022 WHO, WHAT AND HOW

Reflecting on some of this year's themes and highlights from the 218-year-old London flower show

- MILA CREWE-BROWN

 The RHS Chelsea Flower Show sponsored by The Newt in Somerset is a date on every avid gardener's calendar. With around 400 horticultural exhibits spread across the vast grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, it's a breeding ground for the latest trends and horticultural moods, a hub for exchange and learning and a platform for social and environmental change. It's also quintessentially British with the queen having visited more than 50 times. A number of installations this year marked her Platinum Jubilee with the overall planting maxing out on the colour purple.

This year's exhibits ultimately exposed the restorative power of nature, directly reflecting on the impact of recent global events. This sentiment was uncovered through the five themes: PlanetFriendly Gardening, Health and Wellbeing, Inspiration for Unconventional Gardens, Gardens for Good Causes and The Best of British Growers.

Exhibitors examined these with plants and landscapes that called for regeneration, healing, contemplation, wellbeing and reconnection, leaning toward a more naturalistic aesthetic and throwing meadow and wild planting into sharp focus.

THE LUSH DETAILS: Some of the best show gardens according to the judges, visitors and ourselves.

The Rewilding Britain Landscape by Urquhart & Hunt Landscape Design

Conceptualising an existence in harmony with the wild, this wetland garden revealed the incredible work of the beaver. Here, a pool dammed by beavers, was edged with wood debris and a bridge led the viewer to a timber viewing hide. An old stone wall, native wildflowers and a riparian meadow all formed part of this untamed landscape.

The Mind Garden by Andy Sturgeon