Mediterranean muses, wild blooms and shrooms: Trends to watch from this year’s Chelsea Flower Show

The event is a highlight in any plant fan’s calendar – and Adele Cardani says presentations leant in to the informal, with an emphasis on how our gardens can nourish our minds and bodies

Growing strong: Centre for Mental Health’s The Balance Garden (Gary Morrisroe)

The Royal Horticultural Society’s prestigious annual five-day garden show, widely known as the Chelsea Flower Show, heralded the start of summer with an abundance of London’s best and brightest blooms. The most highly anticipated event in any floral fanatic’s calendar welcomed a number of Royal visitors, TV personalities, and celebrities clad in pastel-hued chiffon frocks and linen two-pieces. I’ve rounded up the emerging trends that landscape designers and al fresco creatives from across the country just couldn’t seem to get enough of.

Firstly, the show favoured la dolce vita tastes, with Mediterranean plant-packed scenes reminiscent of glittering poolside holidays spent in the dappled shade of olive groves – perhaps it’s the lingering The White Lotus effect. The Hamptons Mediterranean Garden by Filippo Dester was one such standout plot redolent with the look, feel, and smell of sun-soaked landscapes. It was a tranquil vignette where the warm textures of plaster pink architecture and blonde woods merged into nature. The palette of plants included clouds of scented shrubs, aromatic herbs, and drought-tolerant ornamental perennials, reflecting a changing climate where conscious water usage is essential.

Peace and quiet: the Hamptons Mediterranean Garden (Hamptons)

Ancient wonder: a statue of Pharaoh Amenhotep III in pride of place in Andrew Martin’s presentation (Andrew Martin)

Global design house Andrew Martin’s display was built around the enduring legends of lost Mediterranean cities. The brand launched its limited-edition collection of three colossal garden statues in collaboration with the British Museum. The head and upper torso of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, a horse from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world), and the Prudhoe Lion are each recreated in jesmonite, a combination of gypsum (a mineral created from sedimentary rock) and water-based acrylic resin. Martin Waller, founder of Andrew Martin, tells me: “While many designers want to say something new, I wanted to say something old – to capture the flavour of an ancient land and somehow bottle it.” If you want to add a touch of storied history to your garden, the larger-than-life sculptures start at £19,000.

‘Planting and flower choice at Chelsea this year were a bit more informal and less manicured,’ says Freddie Garland (Freddie Garland)

Whilst past shows boasted extravagant arrangements of highly ornamental flowers, Freddie Garland, show exhibitor and founder of delivery service, Freddie’s Flowers, explains: “Planting and flower choice at Chelsea this year were a bit more informal and less manicured, with many gardens featuring native wildflowers and dare I say it – weeds.” These naturalistic cameos sent a message: that the beauty and health benefits of nature are for everyone – not just for those in well-heeled, leafy suburbs.

Home grown: Mark Gregory’s Savills Garden (Oliver Dixon)

The Centre for Mental Health’s The Balance Garden, celebrated “weeds” as an integral part of urban ecology. The design mimicked city landscapes, with a wealth of wildflowers, grasses, and hardy shrubs that thrive in stressful environments, growing up from the cracks in rugged, hard landscaping composed of salvaged waste products. The centrepiece was a reclaimed steel-clad shipping container filled with mushrooms supplied by specialist fungus growers Caley Bros, demonstrating how urban spaces can be compellingly used to grow wholesome harvests.

Good enough to eat: the School Food Matters Garden (Adrian Pope)

Mark Gregory’s Savills Garden also embraced the grow-your-own veg trend, evoking the experience of stepping into the intimate walled garden of a country hotel. A combination of ornamental and edible planting provided inspiration for “plot-to-plate” al fresco dining, highlighting how one’s own green space can be a source of the very best in flavours and nutrition. Likewise, the School Food Matters Garden featured child-sized paths, encouraging children to meander through the plot and forage for their own fresh food, such as strawberries, asparagus, beetroot, pomegranate and sweet rocket. Tactile earth walls were inscribed with direct quotes from primary school students, one of which read: “Plants make me feel calm and more like myself.” Therein lies the thread which ran throughout the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea this year – a garden not only has benefits for the aesthetics of a place, but also holds powers of renewal that can nourish both the mind and body.