Inspired by a fabulous team day out at Chelsea!
The Alaster Anderson team have returned from a day at the Chelsea Flower Show inspired and excited by a fabulous day out.
Alaster tests new recruit Archie’s plant knowledge
We revelled in comparing notes about the planting and garden design ideas from this year’s Gold Medal winners.
We loved the focus on sustainability.
And it was so good to be together as a team, sharing ideas and being enthused by so much to see. We are all uplifted by a brilliant day spent talking non-stop about ideas and all things plant based!
Plenty of talking points
We enjoyed being in A Rewilding Britain Landscape, a landscape in the South West rewilded after the reintroduction of the native beaver. A brook flowed beneath a glade of hawthorn, hazel and field maple; a pool had been dammed by beavers and evidence of their food and dam supplies – wood-sticks, woodchip and tree debris – were scattered around. An old timber walkway was inspired by a neolithic track in Somerset. In the words of the designers, “The garden reflects the amazingly rich landscape that evolves when nature’s eco-engineers, such as beavers, are able to flourish.”
Best Show Garden: A Rewilding Britain Landscape designed by Lulu Urquhart & Adam Hunt
Marshalls’ Food for Thought certainly did provide us with food for thought in the way it used edible planting as decorative planting! Its mission was to inspire the nation to grow fruit and veg alongside flowers, even in the smallest of gardens, for healthier lifestyles and to reduce supermarket bills. There was a strong focus on sustainability, recycling and upcycling, too.
There was plenty to discuss in Sheffield University student Bea Tann’s Enchanted Rain Garden. This woodland-inspired garden, designed to thrive in wet conditions, was part of Chelsea’s new Container Garden category. It featured robust, woodland planting capable of thriving in the increasingly stormy weather conditions that result from climate change: deep green planting with waxy textures that glisten when wet, as well as ferns that hold raindrops in the soft spaces between their leaves.
Another talking point was Building the Future, particularly its planting design, materials used, vertical interest and colour palette. Centrepiece was a building constructed of sustainable and innovative wood-based panels inspired by natural vertical rock strata, topped with a green sloping roof and with a waterfall cascading into a pool below. Surrounding the pool were a selection of damp-loving, rare and wild species of flora.
A Garden Sanctuary featured a striking charred larch cabin against a loose backdrop of Scots pines and river birches, surrounded by wild, immersive planting and fronted by a sparkling pool. We also noticed that hawthorn was used throughout Chelsea this year.
Gold Medal I Sanctuary Gardens: A Garden Sanctuary by Hamptons designed by Tony Woods
More favourites
Bonsais commanded a lot of the team’s time, and we thoroughly enjoyed looking at the huge variety – we saw a remarkable Rhododendron indicum (bonsai) in full bloom ¬– while a further stall that impressed us was Allium specialist W.S. Warmenhoven with 54 different species. Allium Schubertii, an eccentric and showy firework allium with vast, pink, spiky and sweet-scented flowers, stopped some of the team in their tracks!
Another stall to draw interest was Kelnan Plants, specialist growers of Restio grasses and Proteas. Alaster was keen to wow us with his knowledge of South African flora. In 1996 he was awarded the Merlin Trust grant to help young gardeners and horticulturists travel and discover a passion for plants, and chose to go to South Africa to study the Fynbos flora of the Cape.
Best Houseplant Studio: Planet Studio designed by Malvern Garden Buildings Ltd.
Alaster entertains everyone during lunch
More favourites included:
The large-leafed Petasites hybridus (Butterbur) plants used in A Rewilding Britain Landscape and Astilboides tabularis (common astilboides).
The use of oyster mushrooms grown indoors for decoration and great use of house plants by Planet Studio, “Where retro classics and the wonderful oddities of the houseplant world collide to create a nostalgic feast for the eyes.”
A giant flowering Aeonium from Surreal Succulents, a company that won RHS Plant of the Year 2022 with its x Semponium 'Destiny': rich and deep purple in colour, it is intense in tone in summer and good in winter so a perfect architectural plant to add interest to the garden all year around.
“I found the quintessentially English gardens very inspired. I enjoyed the naturalistic feel of running streams and wild flowers. I liked the interesting height perspectives. The overall effect was relaxing and peaceful”
Favourite memory
The overriding favourite memory for everyone was the opportunity to meet up and enjoy the day together, in particular eating a picnic seated on a small hill that looked out over stalls and beyond to a stage where live music was being performed.
A fantastic, inspiring day out!
Contact us if you are looking to bring some design to your garden, you can reach us on 0207 305 7183 or email at enquire@alasteranderson.com
