Have you ever wondered what it might be like to grow a large range of plants for a show garden at one of the world’s most prestigious horticultural shows? Well hopefully this article might give you some insight into what’s involved.
Growing for such events is a huge commitment. Our recent involvement with Carol Klein’s ‘Iconic Horticultural Hero’ garden at last year’s RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival, helped us to gain invaluable experience and paved the way for our wonderful collaboration with Emma O’Connell and John Warland, designers of a garden for the charity Freedom from Torture, sponsored by Project Giving Back, which will be appearing at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May.
Emily, Emma and Julia
Emma and John were looking for a nursery and team who would be capable of propagating and growing a range of drought tolerant plants naturally adapted to the environment they will be growing in, akin to our ethos of right plant, right place.
Show manager Emily, production assistant Miya and myself are leading the propagation and care of the plants for this project. In total we are growing in excess of 3,000 plants- by no means the entire total included within the design!
Emily
Jos
Miya
As a garden of refuge and sanctuary, a number of plants are edimentals such as Nigella sativa. Emma’s choice of plants are derived from the eastern Mediterranean landscape which, given the topology of this area, are drought resilient plants such as atriplex, Salvia sclarea var. turkestanica and Thymus sp. ex Turkey.
Our work started back in August 2023, discussing the plant list, reviewing plants already in stock and setting up a propagation schedule for those we could grow on. Various visits, meetings and discussions ensued, vital in helping fully understand Emma and John’s ideas. Alongside this, selected plants were potted on to provide the size of plant you might find in a mature, natural landscape. Successional propagation from seeds, cuttings and divisions carried on over the autumn months, again to create the size and scope of plants that you would find in a naturalistic landscape. Plus, we do all of this without heat, light and peat.
We are thrilled to be working with Emma, John and Freedom from Torture, and we wish them the very best success!
Beth Chatto Gardens plant list:
Written by Horticultural Sales Executive Jos
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