With just days to go until RHS Chelsea Flower Show, our Head of Creative, Hannah, wraps up the final planting designs for our trade stand garden – a joyful collaboration between Plankbridge and The Urban Garden, a social enterprise and garden centre in the heart of Bath. Join her as she talks us through this exciting project…
It’s been an inspiring few weeks since I first sat down with the trainees from The Urban Garden with trainee coordinator Sophia Rowe and started planning out the trade stand garden for this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. Many of the group face challenges such as long-term unemployment or mental health difficulties, so this project has been an incredible opportunity for them to get stuck into something practical and creative and it’s been wonderful meeting up with them in the glasshouse every Friday and seeing them grow in confidence.
Having designed and planted quite a few Plankbridge trade stands over the years, I’ve got a good sense of what’s possible within the two or three days we have on-site and how to make the most of the plot. Sophia has been brilliant at guiding the group through the basics of drawing a plan view of a garden, mapping out the length and width of the hut, and working out the dimensions of the planting areas. It’s been quite a lot for them to get their heads around, but they’ve risen to the challenge fantastically!
Working closely to the colour scheme of the hut exterior and interior, the trainees have spent a lot of time carefully picking out suitable plants, many of which have been grown from seed by volunteers, predicting which plants will be in flower and carefully potting on any that need to grow a little stronger before they are Chelsea-ready. They’ve had to consider plants on the restricted list given to us by the Chelsea team, as well as the direction our trade stand is facing and what sort of environment the planting areas will be in. This year we are going to be just opposite where we usually are, on a flatter, grass area with a little less tree cover.
The final scheme is a part-sun, part-shade garden with silver birch trees in containers and soft cottage-style planting beneath. Expect to see foxgloves, lamb’s ears, Erigeron, purple ‘Splish Splash’ geraniums, Achilles millefolium ‘New Vintage Violet’, delicate Geums and Anthemis dotted in amongst them.
Vegetable growing is a big part of the work carried out at The Urban Garden, who sell lots of home-sown plug plants for local gardeners to fill up their beds and borders, as well as for balcony window boxes, which is lovely to see, so the trainees have been keen to bring this to their Chelsea trade stand design. With this in mind, there’ll be two corrugated planters (painted to match the Guest House shepherd’s hut we are taking this year), filled with homegrown vegetables, herbs and fruit. As the hut has a full kitchen, we like to imagine the owner using the herbs to season home-cooked dishes and cocktails, cooking up vegetables for a delicious dinner in their hut.
It’s been a wonderful experience seeing the trainees grow in confidence over the course of the project and witnessing their enthusiasm and teamwork. It’s been a real joy, and I can’t wait to get planting!
- Visit us at RHS Chelsea where we will be in Ranelagh Gardens stand number RA643 (Near to the house plant studios)
- Watch our reel about the final design session here
The Final Design:
