Travel through time
This year’s showstopper is an 80-foot carriage from the Belmond British Pulman – sister train to the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express – which will form part of an impressive 6,000 square-foot planted up station. The ambitious display is the creation of Devon-based multi-RHS Gold medal winning nursery Bowdens. Travel from the beautiful neat hostas on Platform 1 to the rare jungle ferns on Platform 2 on this voyage of botanical discovery.
100 years of rhododendrons
Celebrating the centenary of the Rhododendron Society, Millais Nurseries will be hosting a vibrant walk-through exhibit that compares the large growing varieties favoured back in 1916 (when the Society held its first AGM at Chelsea Flower Show) to the modern, compact plants better suited to today’s more modest-sized gardens.
The cream of the crop
The Great Pavilion, a 12,000sq-metre marquee “big enough to park 500 London buses”, will feature more than 100 exhibits from the world’s best nurseries, growers and florists. Check out newcomers Tom Smith Plants, Hogarth Hostas and Love the Plot You’ve Got.
Show gardens
Multi-award winning designer Cleve West will be taking visitors on a walk down memory lane with his nostalgic garden inspired by the Exmoor National Park woodland he frequented as a teenager, with woodland-edge planting leading to a sunken terrace and pool. Or, for a more offbeat experience, head to DIarmuid Gavin’s ‘The British Eccentrics Garden’ inspired by the crackpot inventions of cartoonist William Heath Robinson among others.
Fresh and Artisan gardens
The Fresh and Artisan sections will be full of surprises and innovative ideas. ‘The Dye Garden’ demonstrates age-old techniques, used by artists such as Rembrandt, of using plants to dye fabrics in the most beautiful colours. Or for an all-round sensory thrill, head to the acoustic Artisan Garden developed by Peter Eustace of Symphonic Gardens – and experience its ‘acoustic pulse’ evocative of the sea music that inspired percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie.
The show is open to members only from the 24th and the public from the 26th. Tickets to RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2016 are available here.
