8 Landscape Trends From the 2024 Chelsea Flower Show
Discover the themes showcased this year at the world’s most prestigious garden festival
The gorgeous gardens showcased at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (May 21 to 25) in London were full of ideas that can inspire our own outdoor spaces. Read on to see the key themes we discovered at the event, including color palettes, materials and plant types, as well as the trends designers are into right now.
2. Gardens That Can Cope With Climate Change
There were plenty of ideas at 2024’s Chelsea Flower Show for gardening within a changing climate, with inspiration for dealing with flooding, droughts and harsh conditions.
The Flood Re: The Flood Resilient Garden (pictured), designed by Naomi Slade and Ed Barsley, was full of tips for slowing the flow of water, capturing it and storing it for future use. A swale ran through the space, working as a stream to channel rainwater into a feature pond, while large storage tanks doubled as ornamental ponds.
The WaterAid Garden, designed by Tom Massey and Je Ahn, contained plant species that can deal with fluctuating rainfall levels, such as North American natives bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata, zones 3 to 10) and red yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora, zones 5 to 10).
Sam Proctor’s small Water Saving Garden featured rainwater collection tanks and planters for gathering rainwater and delivering it straight to the roots of the plants, while Lucy Mitchell’s Changing Tides Garden celebrated plants that have adapted to the harsh, stormy conditions of Britain’s pebble beaches.
15 Ways to Manage Excess Water in Your Landscape
There were plenty of ideas at 2024’s Chelsea Flower Show for gardening within a changing climate, with inspiration for dealing with flooding, droughts and harsh conditions.
The Flood Re: The Flood Resilient Garden (pictured), designed by Naomi Slade and Ed Barsley, was full of tips for slowing the flow of water, capturing it and storing it for future use. A swale ran through the space, working as a stream to channel rainwater into a feature pond, while large storage tanks doubled as ornamental ponds.
The WaterAid Garden, designed by Tom Massey and Je Ahn, contained plant species that can deal with fluctuating rainfall levels, such as North American natives bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata, zones 3 to 10) and red yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora, zones 5 to 10).
Sam Proctor’s small Water Saving Garden featured rainwater collection tanks and planters for gathering rainwater and delivering it straight to the roots of the plants, while Lucy Mitchell’s Changing Tides Garden celebrated plants that have adapted to the harsh, stormy conditions of Britain’s pebble beaches.
15 Ways to Manage Excess Water in Your Landscape
3. Spaces That Bring Us Together
While landscapes are lovely places to be alone with your thoughts, they can also be spaces to enjoy with others, and this was certainly embraced at Chelsea this year.
The RHS Britain in Bloom Friendship Garden, by Jon and James Wheatley, was designed with a friendship bench within it as a place for people to come together and connect within nature. This particular show garden was designed to be a community space, while Baz Grainger’s Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees Garden (pictured) was more of a family plot. It was designed to be a scented, immersive space where families could talk and come together over a lifetime.
In both spaces, seating areas were key — ensuring there were different areas where people could sit, connect and enjoy the surroundings.
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While landscapes are lovely places to be alone with your thoughts, they can also be spaces to enjoy with others, and this was certainly embraced at Chelsea this year.
The RHS Britain in Bloom Friendship Garden, by Jon and James Wheatley, was designed with a friendship bench within it as a place for people to come together and connect within nature. This particular show garden was designed to be a community space, while Baz Grainger’s Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees Garden (pictured) was more of a family plot. It was designed to be a scented, immersive space where families could talk and come together over a lifetime.
In both spaces, seating areas were key — ensuring there were different areas where people could sit, connect and enjoy the surroundings.
Shop for outdoor chairs on Houzz
4. Gardens for Recovery and Well-Being
Landscapes can be a place of solace and sanctuary during moments of mental and physical stress, a theme captured in many of the show gardens at this year’s event.
The Muscular Dystrophy UK Forest Bathing Garden (pictured), designed by Ula Maria, was a place where those affected by the muscle-wasting condition could reflect. Key to this design were trees, creating a space where people could look up at the leaves and soak in the dappled light. The design was inspired by the ancient Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, which means bathing in the forest.
The Stroke Association’s Garden for Recovery by Miria Harris was a sensory space to help with stroke recovery. A wildlife pond and stream created a relaxing sound for those using the space, and private seating areas allowed for quiet and calm.
How to Design a Healing Garden at Home
Landscapes can be a place of solace and sanctuary during moments of mental and physical stress, a theme captured in many of the show gardens at this year’s event.
The Muscular Dystrophy UK Forest Bathing Garden (pictured), designed by Ula Maria, was a place where those affected by the muscle-wasting condition could reflect. Key to this design were trees, creating a space where people could look up at the leaves and soak in the dappled light. The design was inspired by the ancient Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, which means bathing in the forest.
The Stroke Association’s Garden for Recovery by Miria Harris was a sensory space to help with stroke recovery. A wildlife pond and stream created a relaxing sound for those using the space, and private seating areas allowed for quiet and calm.
How to Design a Healing Garden at Home
5. Calm Colors With Joyful Accents
Planting palettes across this year’s show were often relaxed and restful, with plenty of green foliage alongside cool blues, mauves and creamy whites. Billowing grasses were planted among honesty (Lunaria annua, zones 5 to 9) seed heads, pink and purple Scabiosa and pale blue irises.
These cool colors were punctuated, however, by warmer shades of orange, pink and red in the form of poppies and lupines (Lupinus spp.), as well as the mulleins (Verbascum spp.), foxgloves (Digitalis spp.) and avens (Geum spp.) featured here in Flood Re: The Flood Resilient Garden. The mix of colors highlighted an anything-goes approach, encouraging us to focus on plants that bring us joy rather than sticking to one particular palette.
Planting palettes across this year’s show were often relaxed and restful, with plenty of green foliage alongside cool blues, mauves and creamy whites. Billowing grasses were planted among honesty (Lunaria annua, zones 5 to 9) seed heads, pink and purple Scabiosa and pale blue irises.
These cool colors were punctuated, however, by warmer shades of orange, pink and red in the form of poppies and lupines (Lupinus spp.), as well as the mulleins (Verbascum spp.), foxgloves (Digitalis spp.) and avens (Geum spp.) featured here in Flood Re: The Flood Resilient Garden. The mix of colors highlighted an anything-goes approach, encouraging us to focus on plants that bring us joy rather than sticking to one particular palette.
6. Urban Gardening
In a world where more and more people live in cities, it’s good to know our yards can contribute to rewilding these urban spaces.
There was plenty of inspiration for this at the Chelsea Flower Show this year, such as The Anywhere Courtyard designed by Elisabeth Wright-McCalla. This once-neglected plot had been revitalized and transformed into a beautiful outdoor space with trees, plants and a water feature.
The Planet Good Earth garden (pictured), designed by Betongpark and Urban Organic, reimagined an urban skate ramp as a lush space surrounded by edible plants. The idea behind the space was to encourage young skaters to get involved in growing plants, and the designers included some fun and simple ideas for this. There were vertical hydroponic grow towers, which could be used to cultivate crops without soil, and mushroom-growing sacks that could be hung from trees.
In a world where more and more people live in cities, it’s good to know our yards can contribute to rewilding these urban spaces.
There was plenty of inspiration for this at the Chelsea Flower Show this year, such as The Anywhere Courtyard designed by Elisabeth Wright-McCalla. This once-neglected plot had been revitalized and transformed into a beautiful outdoor space with trees, plants and a water feature.
The Planet Good Earth garden (pictured), designed by Betongpark and Urban Organic, reimagined an urban skate ramp as a lush space surrounded by edible plants. The idea behind the space was to encourage young skaters to get involved in growing plants, and the designers included some fun and simple ideas for this. There were vertical hydroponic grow towers, which could be used to cultivate crops without soil, and mushroom-growing sacks that could be hung from trees.
7. Accessible Gardens
Chelsea designers embraced inclusive design this year, creating spaces that could be enjoyed by all.
The Panathlon Joy Garden (pictured) by Penelope Walker, for instance, featured a winding path and seating area that wheelchair users could access, while the Pulp Friction — Growing Skills Garden by Will Dutch and Tin-Tin Azure-Marxen was created by the charity’s members to showcase the skills and determination of those with learning disabilities and autism.
Chelsea designers embraced inclusive design this year, creating spaces that could be enjoyed by all.
The Panathlon Joy Garden (pictured) by Penelope Walker, for instance, featured a winding path and seating area that wheelchair users could access, while the Pulp Friction — Growing Skills Garden by Will Dutch and Tin-Tin Azure-Marxen was created by the charity’s members to showcase the skills and determination of those with learning disabilities and autism.
8. Wood and Craftsmanship
Natural materials were favored over concrete and plastic across most of the gardens at Chelsea this year, and wood in particular popped up everywhere.
Wood was beautifully crafted into furniture and structures, such as the Devon-grown Douglas fir walls that surrounded the Bowel Research UK Microbiome Garden, and the oak benches carved from fallen trees by skilled woodcarver Kate Hanrahan for the Octavia Hill Garden (pictured).
Tell us: Which of the garden designs do you find most inspiring? Share your thoughts in the Comments.
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Natural materials were favored over concrete and plastic across most of the gardens at Chelsea this year, and wood in particular popped up everywhere.
Wood was beautifully crafted into furniture and structures, such as the Devon-grown Douglas fir walls that surrounded the Bowel Research UK Microbiome Garden, and the oak benches carved from fallen trees by skilled woodcarver Kate Hanrahan for the Octavia Hill Garden (pictured).
Tell us: Which of the garden designs do you find most inspiring? Share your thoughts in the Comments.
More on Houzz
Read gardening guides
Find a landscape contractor to help with your project
Shop for outdoor furniture
Vegetable growing is a popular pastime for many gardeners, but have you thought about growing plants for medicinal purposes? You could take some inspiration from designers at Chelsea this year, who highlighted ways to grow food crops that are beneficial to our health.
Helen Olney’s Spirit of Partnership Garden (pictured), for example, focused on plants such as the Burmese broadleaf plantain, used to treat dermatological conditions.
Meanwhile, Chris Hull and Sid Hill designed a show garden for Bowel Research UK, which focused on edibles that have a beneficial impact on our gut microbiome. Consider, for instance, growing the annual European yellow lupine (Lupinus luteus) and common bistorta (Persicaria bistorta, USDA zones 4 to 9; find your zone), both of which are edible and can benefit our gut health.
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