Shot! The 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show
This year’s Chelsea was a mixed bunch, some beautiful floristry and a feast of fabulous flowers, but too few show gardens and a noticeable lack of wow factor meant it’s unlikely to live long in the memory
I’ve been coming to Chelsea every year since 2011— that is with the exception of 2020 when it didn’t take place thanks to Covid.
In that time I’ve seen some stunning show gardens, as well as some fabulous flowers and floral displays. I’ve also witnessed numerous trends among designers when it comes to the looks of the show gardens and especially in their approach to planting.
Considering this is the world’s most prestigious annual flower show, it should always be setting the benchmark when it comes to landscaping, planting and floral displays. What one sees at Chelsea should be the creme de la creme, the finest flowers and gardens created by the world’s top designers that break new ground and really push the envelope as to what is possible. Indeed, the RHS themselves describe it as “agenda-setting gardens that showcase the latest and greatest in design.”
Two things of note are worth pointing out. Everyone participating at Chelsea (or indeed any of the RHS’s other events) is there to showcase their skills whether they are designers, artists, landscapers or plantsmen. Of course the highlight of Chelsea are the show gardens. Each is built from scratch in just 19 days. Estimates suggest over 2,000 tonnes of soil is moved to prepare for the show.
In addition, those responsible for the show gardens have to find sponsors to pay for the work: for the landscaping, the garden features and the planting, as well as the teams of people responsible for building it on site. They also have to ensure everything looks at its absolute finest for the Sunday when the judges inspect their work.
Neither are easy to achieve, but as challenging as getting the timing right, finding funding appears to be the biggest problem. And it’s this that has led to arguably the biggest issue for the Royal Horticultural Society going forward. It’s something I’ve been highlighting in previous show reviews for quite a few years now and this year, it has come to a head.
In years past, show gardens were sponsored by a variety of different entities: countries and specific travel destinations both home and abroad, corporations such as financial institutions, newspapers, drinks producers, cruise operators and charities.
Post-COVID, a seismic shift in sponsorships has seen charities become the dominant source of funding, to the point where literally every single show garden was reliant on a charity’s fiscal contribution. This year those included The National Garden Scheme, Muscular Dystrophy, National Autistic Society, Terrence Higgins Trust, Stroke Association and World Child Cancer, all of whose involvement was only made possible by the philanthropic Project Giving Back fund.
There’s no doubt procuring sponsorship is a big issue and that the lack of it is changing the shape of the show. Proof of that is there were just eight show gardens on Main Avenue this year, compared to twelve in 2023 and seventeen as recently as 2016! It’s something I first highlighted as long ago as May 2016:
“This year, the scale of ambition at Chelsea was significantly reduced. There were fewer show gardens than ever, a mere eight compared to seventeen last year. Having less than half the show gardens is a huge loss for the event. Main Avenue is the centrepiece of Chelsea, it’s what draws the crowds, it’s what gets the media coverage and it’s what Chelsea is world-famous for.”
And I’ve been warning about the problems this reliance brings for a while now.
First of course, there are only so many charities out there and inevitably there will come a time when they’ve been exhausted as a source of revenue. By their very nature, charities are frugal. They don’t have a lot of money to spare, or at least can’t been seen to be spending it on a garden.
Second, they will always require that their garden tells a story. As I pointed out back in May 2016:
“One of the trends that has troubled me is the abundance of show gardens themed around a particular charity of medical infliction. These usually aim to tell a story of an illness or charitable cause and invariably feel like an idea has been imposed on the designer and that the designer has forced a story into their garden.”
In most cases, they’re not cheerful stories, often times by their very nature they’re quite harrowing. The need to tell their story forces the designer to create something that figuratively or subliminally does just that, which is why so many gardens are as full of metaphors as they are flowers.
Typical examples of this are a person’s journey being represented by a path; the flower borders representing someone’s growth and personal evolution or a bridge crossing a stream acting as a metaphor for mental or physical emotions that have to be rebuilt.
For the most part, unless it’s been explained to them, the vast majority of viewers, have no idea whatsoever about these metaphors, with most only interested in what the garden looks like, not the message behind it. Here’s what I wrote in 2017:
“More often than not, show gardens are sponsored by a charity or a cause with the aim of drawing attention to an illness or condition. Usually, the connection between the intended message and what the visitor sees is so tenuous that most people have no idea there was a narrative at play.”
This year the RHS promised its ‘greenest’ ever show, with all show gardens going through a rigorous environmental audit before being accepted.
All designers were urged to use plants suited to the demands of climate change, plus less cement in the build and more recycled materials, while every show garden needed to find a permanent home after the show — often at a hospital or community site.
To emphasise this focus on environmental issues, the RHS also introduced its first green medal for sustainability at the Chelsea Flower Show, rewarding gardens with the lowest carbon impact. All designers who went through the carbon audit were eligible for consideration for ‘The Environmental Innovation Award.’
Additionally, all show gardens at Chelsea now have to live on in some form after the show, whether they’re relocated, broken down and used for a number of different projects, or repurposed in parts.
This is something I’ve been talking about since October 2015:
“At a time when everyone is focusing on sustainability, it’s really time the RHS insist that every show garden has an on-use. It does happen with some of the show gardens, but surely it should be a prerequisite for them all?”
In May 2016 I wrote:
“Bearing in mind the average cost of a show garden on Main Avenue is, according to Joe Swift, somewhere in excess of £250,000 and the RHS keep banging on about sustainability, it strikes me than an essential part of the RHS’s requirements (and judging criteria) for show gardens at its events should be based on how sustainable the gardens are.”
And in May 2017 I restated my view:
“Speaking of the environment, I’ve long contended that all show gardens at Chelsea should be designed with an end-use in mind, rather than just being dismantled at the end of the six days.”
To further emphasise their sustainability drive, one of the so-called RHS Feature Gardens — in essence an unsponsored show garden that’s not eligible for judging — was RHS Chelsea Repurposed. This aimed to highlight creative ways of reusing and recycling materials from previous show gardens. In fact, this was something the RHS had previously done a few years ago at Hampton Court.
Call me a cynic, but it sounds like nothing more than an inexpensive way of putting together a garden for visitors to look at using a combination of elements that were never intended to be seen together.
Running from Tuesday through Saturday, Chelsea is attended by around 160,000 people every year. I was there on the Monday which used to be known as Press Day, but now appears to have been renamed Preview Day. This is the first day that the show is open for scrutiny. As well as the world’s media, the opening day is where you get to see a bunch of ‘slebs’, but curiously you don’t get to find out who has won what. That’s not announced until the following morning.
Held in the grounds of the Chelsea Physic Garden, home to the Chelsea Pensioners since 1913, it may not be a huge site, but there’s plenty packed into those eleven acres.
The first thing to point out may sound obvious, but the reality is everyone’s visit to Chelsea is an experience that’s unique to them. And when you only have a few hours to spend looking, you have to be selective as to how you use your time. Often, despite having plans to focus your attention on a few specific gardens or exhibits, something unexpected catches your eye or captures your imagination and boom, that’s ten, fifteen or thirty minutes gone. And before you know it, time’s up and your visit’s over. (The media have to leave the site by 4pm)
Whilst I intend to do some more thorough reviews of one or two of my favourite gardens, for now, let me provide a chronological journey of my 2024 Chelsea.
First I headed just off Main Avenue to the Boodles Garden. In the three previous years, under the auspices of designer Tom Hoblyn, the Sanctuary garden sponsored by the Liverpool-based jewellery firm have impressed me with their creative detailing, craftsmenship and beautiful planting.
This year, the garden’s theme was a celebration of the National Gallery’s bicentennial. I was confused as to what — if any — the connection between the two organisations was, but there was no doubt that Catherine MacDonald’s garden was nowhere near as interesting as Boodles previous exhibits. In fact to me it looked like a mish-mash of ideas apparently drawn from “hidden details’ of various artists whose works are on display at the gallery.
The main feature was a series of laser etched metal arches which apparently paid homage to intricate details in paintings by Klimt and Seurat. Without being told, I doubt anyone looking at the garden would have much of a clue as to the story being told, or indeed, even the connection to art.
And, not for the first time, there was a visual disconnect between the garden and the associated jewellery collection created by Boodles. The Boodles National Gallery Collection principally features a collection called Play Of Light, which has a distinctive design showcasing a multitude of coloured gems. Yet nothing from the jewellery collection — in terms of its shapes and colours — appeared to be reflected on the garden. It was if the two had been developed entirely separately from each other.
I did like some of the laser etched panelling as well as the yew topiary and the knitted Smile pouf by The Modern Garden Company. But as is almost always the case with Sanctuary gardens, there’s just too much going on in such a small space. When will designers begin to realise that less is more?
I then moved on to Main Avenue, Chelsea’s most prestigious stretch of real estate where the show gardens are located. This year there were just eight, but I’m not so sure any of them will live long in the memory. Even before seeing them in person, it was obvious that this year’s crop would not be that special. Based on their promotional sketches and whatever appeared on social media during the three-week build, none appeared to be especially interesting or innovative and where were all the top garden designers? That in itself was a noticeable absence and — at least to me — reflected that this was unlikely to be a vintage Chelsea.
With time of the essence, I started with the two that — visually at least — had caught my attention: Ann-Marie Powell’s Octavia Hill Garden for the National Trust and Matthew Childs’ Terrence Higgins Trust Garden, both of whose journeys I’d been following on social media.
As with all Show Gardens when the headline sponsor is a charity, there’s a story involved. The truth is, like most people, I judge the garden solely on what I see, not the narrative it’s setting out to tell.
Octavia Hill, it turns out was a co-founder of the National Trust, the charitable body that owns and looks after the majority of Britain’s most important buildings as well as protecting many of the country’s most special landscapes.
First and foremost what drew me to this garden was the colour palette and the planting. On closer inspection, two features stood out: the wooden benches and the laser-etched metal stairs, even though we’ve seen very similar elements on previous Chelsea show gardens.
The hand-carved benches were made from reclaimed timber sourced from various National Trust sites. As well as resembling giant bars of Flake chocolate, they reminded me of similar sculptural pieces from one of Andy Sturgeon’s gardens and provided an interesting backdrop to the planting.
But best for me were the laser-etched metal elements. Now we saw something similar on Ruth Willmott’s Morris & Co garden in 2022, which used Willow Boughs, one of William Morris’ first wallpaper designs, but here the pattern was inspired by the veins of a leaf.
I don’t know who owns the rights to the leaf design, but if I were the National Trust, I’d be producing a range of products that featured it. From the metal panels that can be used as walkways or stair treads, to scaled down versions that could feature on picture frames as well as being embossed on leathergoods and on a variety of printed materials.
Of course there was also a water feature and a structure which seem to be compulsory on every Chelsea garden. And it goes without saying that, like almost every show garden nowadays, the planting was ‘naturalistic’. Not long ago, this was a trend pioneered by a handful of designers, now it’s the norm. Indeed, creating show gardens that look effortlessly natural has become the holy grail for every designer, where quite literally everything has to look like it hasn’t been touched by a human hand.
The planting featured a mainly shades of mauves and orange palette, a classic combination that’s a favourite of many designers right now. The standouts — and arguably my own favourite flower right now — were the irises. Apparently, there were eight varieties on the garden, the best being Holden Clough.
After the show, the Octavia Hill Garden will be relocated to the Blue Diamond-owned, Bridgemere Show Gardens in Nantwich, Cheshire.
Whilst it was my standout show garden this year, it wasn’t in the same league as my favourite from last year. Sarah Price’s Nurture Landscapes Garden, built by Crocus, who also grew all the flowers, is up there as being of the best Chelsea gardens I’ve ever seen. As well as featuring succulents, Sarah’s breathtaking garden highlighted the bearded irises developed at Benton End by Sir Cedric Morris, really put that flower — and especially the more unusually hued varieties — into the spotlight.
The next garden I visited, the Terence Higgins Trust Garden designed by Matthew Childs, also featured irises. I really liked Matthew’s vibrant Over the Wall Garden which won a Gold and Best Show Garden at Hampton Court in 2022. This one was certainly less colourful, with shades of grey being the prominent colour scheme. It also featured an abundance of rocks — the garden apparently drew inspiration from a disused slate quarry in North Wales.
Now we’ve seen this sort of thing numerous times before, where the designer sets out to recreate a specific landscape at Chelsea. How the Welsh landscape relates to an AIDS charity I wasn’t sure, but apparently it had something to do with AIDS-awareness ads from the 1980s that featured a falling tombstone in a slate quarry and Terrence Higgin’s Welsh roots, evidence of how tenuous the connection tends to be between the design and the sponsor. Of course, the designer would point to all the symbolism contained in the garden, but I doubt many who saw it would be aware of the narrative.
Even so, I do think it was done extremely well and grey rocks always make for a good backdrop for the planting. I liked it, even though it didn’t blow me away. The judges only gave it a silver-gilt, but it did win the award for best construction.
So those were the two show gardens I spent time looking at, although this year I never got to go on either. That makes a huge difference, as it’s only by going onto them that you can get to see and photograph aspects of the garden that the general public don’t get to see.
From experience I know if you’re shown round by the designer who explains the story and points out what the features represent, you come away with a far better appreciation of what you’re looking at. The reality is most people simply judge a garden by its looks and most people only get to look into a show garden from two sides rather than go on it.
Next I went into the Great Pavilion, the 12,570m2 marquee containing exhibits from various growers and florists. My first stop was to take a look at the RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year contestants. More than 25 new plants were launched at the show, but neither the winner — Starlight, a white ornamental cherry with star-shaped flowers — or the runner-up, appealed to me. However, the plant that was awarded third place did.
Aptly named, Praying Hands this was a really unusual compact agave that looks similar to an artichoke.
Another of the entries, a subtly-hued sempervivum called Gold Mine also caught my eye.
After a quick candid shot of Monty Don and Joe Swift, I headed to the display I was most looking forward to: Cape Flora, the first time after a four year absence that South Africa was represented at Chelsea.
Eyecatching in every way, masses of vibrant, exotic proteas beautifully set against a sinuous cracked earth backdrop inspired by South Africa’s Cape Fold Belt mountains.
Simple in concept, yet superbly executed, it was one of the best exhibits I’d seen in the Great Pavilion, so it was no surprise it won a Gold Medal as well as being awarded Best Exhibit and receiving the New Design award.
Having been wowed by the proteas, no other plants could come close, so I moved on to the floristry displays where two arrangements caught my eye. Both featured vibrant colours and could have been created by the same hand.
The first one I was drawn to was Burst by Laura Pannitt and the second was Colour & Transparency by Julie Pearson, which was inspired by Pantone’s new neon colours for 2024. Each received a Gold Medal.
I’m always seeking out something unexpected to photograph in the Great Pavilion. Past finds have included airplants and aeoniums and last year it was Caley Bros’ artful exotic mushroom installation. This year I found it on the Rootfull stand.
Rootfull describes itself as a “material innovation company” and it has developed a process of guiding the roots of wheatgrass seeds to ‘weave’ new textiles onto templates carved from beeswax.
That may sound a little bizarre, but the results are both beautiful and unique and can be used to create everything from lampshades to clothing. Rootfull deservedly received a Gold Medal.
From one type of unique art to another. Every year, be it at Chelsea or Hampton Court, I make sure to take a look at Carrie Anne Funnell’s exhibit. Her one-of-a-kind kiln fused glass always impress me and once again she didn’t disappoint with her fascinating glass art.
And fittingly, I saved the best to last. The final garden I visited was Kazuyuki Ishihara’s Moroto no IE Sanctuary garden. A Chelsea regular, Ishihara is renowned for his enchanting Japanese gardens filled with waterfalls, five varieties of acers, purple ‘Caesar’s Brother’ irises and of course his trademark moss-covered stones. This was unquestionably his best yet, a stunning diorama that transported you to another world.
How it only received a silver gilt is beyond me, as to my eyes, it was the most gorgeous garden of them all at this year’s show. I can only imagine what Ishihara could do if he had the space of a full size show garden. Speaking with him, he said he hoped to be on Main Avenue in the next couple of years, if he could find the funding.
And so that brought my visit to an end. Was it the best Chelsea? No. It definitely lacked the wow-factor show gardens of previous iterations. Not only were there too few of them, but the majority were underwhelming and contained features we’ve seen before. Indeed, there was a lack of innovation throughout this year’s show. Additionally, looking back it’s hard to think of any single element from 2024 that will live long in the memory.
With all the show gardens sponsored by charities, it felt like there was a definite belt-tightening on Main Avenue as well as a general lack of ambition throughout the event.
This growing pressure on finances has been evident for a few years now and unquestionably has a knock-on effect on the show itself. Chelsea is not the glamour occasion it once was, there were noticeably fewer A-listers in attendance this year and two announcements made before the show appear to substantiate the view that financial pressures are having a negative effect.
First, having announced King Charles III as the next Patron of the Society, the RHS revealed that the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival (the world’s biggest floral show) will become a biennial festival from 2026. That year a new show will take place in the grounds of Gloucestershire’s Badminton Estate, before returning to Hampton Court in 2027. Given how poor last year’s Hampton was, I can’t say I’m overly surprised.
What’s more intriguing, and something that went under the radar, was the announcement that Crocus was “stepping back” from Chelsea. The plant grower and landscaper had been supplying plants and building gardens at each of the last 22 shows.
Out of the 36 judged show gardens that Crocus had been involved with, no less than 12 had won Best Show Garden and a further 33 had taken home Gold medals. Last year it won Best Show Garden Construction for The Centrepoint Garden. Despite such success, it’s apparently no longer commercially beneficial for them to be involved. If that’s the case for a serial winner like Crocus, it must surely make other organisations question the value of their own future involvement.
As the RHS’s most prestigious showcase, the Society simply cannot afford to allow the Chelsea Flower Show to lose its cachet as the world’s premier horticultural event. But if they continue along this trajectory I feel it’s a slippery slope. To bring back the glitz and visual spectacle, they need to find ways of attracting major commercial sponsors as well as enticing the world’s best garden designers.
I also think the RHS have to revamp the way they reward winning gardens and exhibits at their shows. I’ve said for years now that there are far too many golds handed out, that they should be limited to one per category and that not every entrant deserves to leave with a medal. The winning show garden should naturally also be Best in Show, and the winning team should receive both a physical award (not just a mere card) as well as a substantial financial prize.
Other awards categories could include Designer of the Year, Young Designer of the Year, Flower of the Year, Florist of the Year, Grower of the Year and Artpiece of the Year. And last but not least, the winners should receive their prizes at an awards podium, rather than they just be handed out on the garden or exhibit, with little or no fanfare.
I think the RHS have much to ponder over.
Behind the shot: All these images were taken handheld either with the Olympus OM-D E-M1 or the iPhone 14 Pro. As always, it was all about looking for interesting compositions and waiting until there were no people in the frame. Photographed at Chelsea Physic Garden on 20 May 2024.
About the author: Based in Sussex-by-the-Sea, on England’s south coast, Gary is a creative writer and image-maker. He specialises in creating out of the ordinary portraits of musicians and people with interesting faces, as well as photographing some of the world’s finest flowers and gardens, not forgetting an array of automotive exotica.
On the writing side, he has used his research skills to author deep dives into some noteworthy songs beginning with Bryan Ferry’s ‘These Foolish Things’ ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials, ‘Real Wild Child’ by Ivan and ‘All The Young Dudes’ by Mott the Hoople.
He has also written a biography of Robert Palmer and the stories behind Whitesnake’s blatant Led Zep rip-off, ‘Still Of The Night’, Harry Styles’ anthem to positivity, ‘Treat People With Kindness’ and the little known Queen track ‘Cool Cat.’
Most recently, Gary has penned the fascinating story behind George Orwell’s dystopian novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four.’ as well as ‘Believe It Or Not’ a look into the rise of fake news.
All these can be found here on Medium, along with his reviews of gigs and events and chats with musicians including the likes of Royal Blood, Joe Satriani and Wolf Alice.
