Chelsea Flower Show 2008

The British nation stops, everyone’s talking about it, others are watching it on TV; it is THE trend setting event of the year where the media have the potential to make or break you as a member of industry. It’s gruelling, tiring, exciting and attended by everyone who is anyone. It is simply known as ‘Chelsea’.

The Chelsea Flower Show is the Royal Horticultural Societies long running horticultural show, allowing designers, growers and many other stakeholders to showcase their talent, expertise and unique products (outdoor living and sculpture is in abundance) to the general public. It is the world wide gardening event of the year, bringing together garden lovers from around the globe – this year saw exhibits by Flemings & Trailfinders Australian Garden [Australia], Kirstenbosch [South Africa] and the Horticultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago to name just a few.

There were a number of evident common trends in plant selection which were showcased amongst the big Show Gardens. General consensus was that Alliums, which have featured not only this year but for the past 6 or so, have become all too common as a stately plant associated with Chelsea. There is a strong desire from industry to see something new and different. Along with Alliums, other popular favourite plants include clipped Buxus which can be shaped to a wide range of forms, making it one of the most versatile base plants of a design.

While lush clean greens and pure white flowering plants dominate the designs this year, the other standout featured colour was purple. There was a significant amount of predominantly rich purple flowering plants cleverly offset by the contrasting white and green theme. As mentioned, the rich purple flowers of Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ stand tall in many of the exhibitor’s displays with Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’ also a popular purple structural plant. It also comes into its own when in flower, with a large yellow Crassulaceae inflorescence rising above the plant.

With the event being held at a high point in the middle of spring when many plants are flowering, timing the flowering period of these to coincide with Chelsea can be difficult with designers often having backup selections if one crop fails for one reason or another. Prior to opening on Press Day, walking around the site you would see Paeonia flowers wrapped up with insulation material around the buds like little blankets. This primarily aids in keeping the temperature even around the flower to prevent it from spoiling and opening too much before the all important Press Day. Just one of the many tricks in constructing a garden at Chelsea.

While the Wisley Plant Centre does not display at Chelsea, many other major garden centres do, with the common ‘grow your own’ theme dominating. There was a feast of ideas demonstrating outdoor living intermingled with home grown fruit and vegetables and ornamental displays of a wide variety of trees and shrubs.

So what is it that we as members of the Nursery and Garden Industry can take from this? These trends are a prime marketing point to increase sales within your nursery. At the Wisley Plant Centre, we have taken these trends of Chelsea and constructed Planted Containers and a display garden with associated plants for sale next to this. Appropriate point of sale is a must to ensure that the theme is understood and cross merchandising evident to inspire the customer. It is your opportunity to sell!

One of my favourite suggestive planting combinations I saw (at the Hilliers display) include the bright red bottle brush flowers of Callistemon citrinus and red roses, worked as focal points amongst coppiced Eucalyptus, Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’, Ceanothus cv., Lavandula ‘Tiara’, Choisya ternata ‘Aztec Pearl’, Pinus sylvestris, Convolvulus cnoerum and other plants in the same silver, green and red palette.

And of course I can not go without mentioning the Flemings Trailfinders Australian Garden. It was fantastic to see a piece of Australia be built up surrounded by everything else so quintessentially English in character. The final result was colourful, full of contrast and highly curvaceous, brought about by the featured sandstone walls and stringy bark decking. Yet again, another prime marketing point for you to utilise!

If you’re keen to see what it’s all about, and get an insight into the 2008 Chelsea Flower Show, the DVD is out now, available through www.rhs.org.uk/shopping

Chelsea Highlight Plants

Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’ (P)
Achillea ‘Moonshine’
Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ and other cv. (P)
Angelica sp.
Buxus sempervirens ??
Carex testacea
Cercis canadensis ‘Forrest Pansy’
Dicksonia antarctica
Digitalis cv.
Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’ and other cv. (P)
Hosta cv.
Lavandula cv. (P)
Lupinus cv. (P)
Nepeta sp.
Papaver cv.
Phormium cv. (P)
Salvia cv. (P)
Verbascum cv.

(P) – The Purple Plants of Chelsea


Text and Photos by Anthony J Curnow



Reference Websites:
www.rhs.org.uk/chelsea
www.sanbi.org
www.hillier.co.uk
www.flemings.com.au/chelsea2008