Chelsea Flower Show, London 2017

We’re back in the office this week and have a chance to reflect on the highlights of RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017; the planting and flowers, sensational gardens and the colorful characters visiting the show.

The weather is always a question mark over the Chelsea Flower Show as it is in the majority an outdoor event, this year we had been anxious as the build up had seen torrential rain almost everyday.  However as the show opened the sunshine arrived and stayed for the duration, we couldn’t have wished for better weather; showing the gardens and all the outdoor products at their very best and putting a smile on all the visitor’s faces.

Best in Show

The gardens are the big draw for most visitors offering inspiration and insight into the incredible hard work involved in creating the show gardens for Chelsea Flower Show.  The Best Show Garden was the M&G Garden designed by James Basson.  The designer’s vision of a garden was created from a disused limestone quarry including a large botanical range of flora from Malta. Designed with great impact it delivers a hard message about the vulnerability of Malta’s natural landscapes and resources.

The Best Fresh Garden was designed by Kate Gould, City Living showing a an imagined space in an urban apartment block, providing the occupants with attractive and useable small gardens.  These multi-level gardens highlight the importance of greening inner city spaces, not only for residents’ enjoyment but also to benefit the environment as a whole.

The Best Artisan Garden was the Walker’s Wharf Garden supported by Doncaster Deaf Trust and designed by Graham Bodle. The garden reflects the beauty of industrial decay embellished by restrained plantings of conifers including pines and larch as well as lush woodland perennials.

WaterAid

This year we decided to collaborate with WaterAid by selling our concrete tea light holders at the show with all proceeds going to WaterAid, this proved a huge success and we are pleased to announce that we have raised £1,200, which will enable WaterAid to supply a school sanitation block for 250 children (£1050) and three wheelchair accessible toilets (£50 each) in Bangladesh.

People Watching at Cheslea Flower Show

Of course RHS Chelsea is mainly about the gardens and flowers but it’s also a great spot for fantastic people watching; whether that’s getting a glimpse of a Chelsea Pensioner in their full regalia, a celeb spot on press day or simply somebody with fantastic style to match the gardens.

We have to give a big thank you to the fantastic suppliers who helped to create our stand for Chelsea Flower Show 2017; TKE Landscaping, Silvadec, Brooks Bros, Flybird Installations, Kyoto Design, Greenmatters UK and KG Lifestyle & Interiors. Here are some highlights from our stand which showed our fire and water features in a great outdoor living space: