Chelsea Inspired Gardening
May is a fantastic month for gardening, with the spring flowers blooming and the summer garden preparations underway, its fabulous to be back in the garden again! With Chelsea Flower show just around the corner, and inspirational garden design taking the fore, we expect British plants and growers to take centre stage, alongside wildlife-friendly gardening and inventive environmental solutions to the challenges of our changing climate.
Here are some suggestions to inspire your award-winning summer garden:
Roses and Companion Planting
David Austin’s stand at the show always takes us on a magical journey with a vast array of spectacular roses with a variety to suit each garden. Let nature help when caring for your roses by planting alongside them flowers and herbs which look out for one another. Companion planting will not only add year-round colour and interest it will attract insects that in turn deter pests and help to prevent disease.
Our David Austin roses are just budding, having been lovingly looked after by Dan Welsh, our rose specialist, and now is the perfect time to plant them alongside companion plants such as lavender, which attracts pollinating bees, can help protect roses from pests like aphids and, is easy to maintain!
Alliums are a great companion plant for roses, as pollinator plants, their scent can ward off aphids and other pests, and helps prevent black spot on the roses.
Naturalistic Gardens
A naturalistic garden is the exact opposite of a formal garden, instead of neat, staked, and clipped plants in a traditional border, the look is random, with plants growing into each other – annuals, biennials, herbaceous perennials, and shrubs.
Paths and hard landscaping is soft, with aggregates, gravel or wood-chips being used for plants to self-seed into it.
There are many ways that you can incorporate naturalistic planting into flower bed ideas, in either a small or a large way.
Plants used in a naturalistic planting design are hardy, consistent and complement each other beautifully. Herbaceous perennials, grasses and shrubs densely planted to reduce weed growth, is good. Some Suggestions would be Foxglove, Geraniums, Scabious. Visit us and speak to our plants team about what will work in your garden.
Showstoppers
Favourite plants for Chelsea are often perennials which flower at this time of year. Glorious Lupins being top of our list! Raymond Evison Clematis, have received top awards year on year and we have a huge selection of these spectacular climbers. Hydrangea builds structure and form in your garden with spectacular blooms. We are also loving the Agapanthus for this years show, a wonderful pollinator, whose flowers come back year on year and last most of the summer.
We have everything you need to create your own Chelsea Flower Show garden at home this year, with plants and advice to help your garden grow!
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