Each year, over 150,000 garden lovers and socialites descend on the show for a day packed with prettiness, inspiration and celebration.
Sponsored by The Newt in Somerset – at once a swanky hotel and a working estate – for the third year running, 2024’s Flower Show has endless delights in store.
ONE
Project Giving Back, an independent charity funded by a pair of anonymous philanthropists, is sponsoring fifteen gardens for good causes this year. Expect to see showstoppers from the likes of Jon Davies and Steve Williams who are behind the Centre For Mental Health The Balance Garden and Darren Hawkes who has designed the Samaritans’ Listening Garden.
Image: Neil Hepworth-Samaritans’ Listening Garden. Designed by Darren Hawkes
TWO
Culture and horticulture will collide in a Boodles’-sponsored garden designed to celebrate 200 years of The National Gallery. Designer Catherine McDonald draws inspiration from the cultural bastion’s most treasured collections, with particular allusions to the Pointillist and Impressionist movements.
Image: The Boodles National Gallery Garden, Sanctuary Garden, designed by Catherine MacDonald
THREE
Climate change is, rightly, more and more of a focus for gardeners. Flood Re’s The Flood Resilient Garden, designed by Dr Ed Barsley and Naomi Slade, demonstrates how to create a beautiful and usable space that mitigates the risk of flooding through the use of dense planting to both slow the flow and capture some water for later use. Clever.
Image: The Flood Resilient Garden, Sanctuary Garden, designed by Naomi Slade and Ed Barsley
FOUR
Chelsea isn’t just about grown-up horticulturists – it’s about inspiring a whole new generation of nature lovers. And what better way than by creating a magical oasis with little ones in mind? The No Adults Allowed garden, designed by Harry Holding, presents ‘a joyful journey through a fantastical landscape where they can explore the magic of lush woodland, bountiful meadows and a wetland with heightened colour and oversized bog plants.’ The pièce de résistance comes in the form of a natural den set within a pool of water. Heaven for tiny wildlings.
Image: No Adults Allowed Garden, Feature Garden, designed by Harry Holding
FIVE
Do you have an ongoing love affair with Bridgerton going on? Then Chelsea holds suitably swoon-worthy riches in the form of The Bridgerton Garden. Designed by Holly Johnston, the secluded oasis is inspired by the wallflower-like character, Penelope Featherington, and traces her personal journey using a moongate which leads to an ornate water feature and sunken seating area in the heart of the garden.
Image: Netflix Bridgerton Garden - Sanctuary garden - Holly Johnston
SIX
Don’t miss the excellent food. This year, there will be a Champagne & Seafood Restaurant on site, where punters can tuck into fishy morsels washed down with a glass of Pommery Brut.
Image credit: Sarah Vivienne
SEVEN
Do not dream of leaving without having first sampled The Dorchester’s floral-inspired Champagne afternoon tea created by executive pastry chef Michael Kwan. Whatever could be nicer than this as a way to refuel between garden inspections?
Image credit: Georgi Mabee
