Pink rubble garden, lots of water and recycling: Chelsea trends |
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I had the pleasure of travelling to London once again, this time for the Chelsea Flower Show. It had been nearly two years since I last strolled through the world's most renowned and spectacular garden show. And what a delight it was once more; this year, Chelsea reaffirmed its status as a true trendsetter.
You definitely see things here that the average garden owner doesn't want to see. Think of a border that has been filled with broken rubble, bits of which have been painted fluorescent pink or purple. If my gardener suggested this, I would probably call around for another one. In that respect, you can compare the Chelsea Flower Show to Paris Fashion Week. There you also see fashion that the average person would never wear, but it is progressive and trendsetting.
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In that respect, you can compare the Chelsea Flower Show to Paris Fashion Week
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It was great to see how the trend of sustainability is developing at Chelsea. Everything is reused, is reused or is recyclable. For example, the 'rubble garden' I was talking about was also full of 'old' attributes from former show gardens. The bench (also bright pink, by the way, just like the designer's entire outfit) served as a canopy in a previous show garden. And the fountain also came from a previous show garden. In addition, all show gardens after Chelsea will be replanted somewhere else. The decorative paving this year consisted remarkably often of semi-hard surfaces. And if you did see tiles, they were often a colourful mix - you guessed it: through reuse.
Furthermore, the Chelsea gardens were green, greener, greenest. With lush planting plans that showed real craftsmanship. It was striking that the indigenous storm on Chelsea had already died down somewhat. While the British garden show had very wild indigenous gardens and borders in recent years, this year cultivars were again widely embraced. Exactly what is generally argued in this edition in the De Stelling section: you can't get there with indigenous plants alone. Another trend that I spotted and applaud is that of trees: lots of trees in the show gardens. For example, 'old hand' Tom Stuart-Smith won a gold medal for the ninth time in his career, with a garden in which three large Corylus avellana were the defining feature. The most important prize went to Ula Maria for her real 'forest bathing garden'. About 50 trees played the leading role in this.
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There was a lot of water for decoration: streams, waterfalls, ponds
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Another beautiful trend was water. There were many borders with a kind of lava-like surface, based on prairie gardens, in which you can quickly get rid of a lot of water if there are drought-loving plants in it (just like that rubble garden). But you also saw a lot of water for decoration: streams, waterfalls, ponds ... a lot of water. There was not a single show garden that did not contain water. In the category 'water', the WaterAid show garden was a real showstopper for me: a towering funnel-shaped pavilion made of corten steel had to collect the rainwater there and let it infiltrate into the soil. Corten steel grids ran through the garden, like garden paths under which the water could easily find its way. The garden was actually one beautiful big wadi. In this garden too, three trees with head and tree crown stuck out above everything, three Alnus glutinosa from Boomkwekerij Ebben. Incidentally, I was told by the designers Tom Massey and Je Ahn that these were the tallest trees on the site. Glad that our country could contribute this highlight to this fantastic garden show.
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