Take Home Ideas & Inspiration from RHS Flower Shows

The 2021 RHS Chelsea Flower Show was held in September, rather than its usual spot in May, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This unique opportunity gave designers a whole new raft of seasonal flowers and plants to consider in their designs, as demonstrated in Alan Williams's The Parsley Box Garden.

Alan's garden was designed with the over 60's in mind, to encourage conversation and dispel stereotypes around the process of ageing, with a focus on using the garden's harvest for preservation and fermentation. A fully functional outdoor kitchen may not find its way into your own garden, but considering how we use our gardens as an extension of our homes is important. Increasingly we see trends towards eating outdoors, with permanent outdoor kitchen spaces being favoured.

Alan utilised our large format Sidewalk Porcelain as the base of his garden. Supplied as a 1200x1200mm tile, Alan laid the pavers in an a-symmetrical pattern, which were also made into a feature, by way of 'mind your own business' and brass-coloured inlays to add texture and soften the overall look of the porcelain paving.

This garden showcased a perfectly autumnal colour palette within its soft landscaping, with yellows, oranges, mauves, and burgundy taking centre stage, by way of rudbeckia, sanguisorba, and salvias. Late-flowering verbena, echinacea, and achilleas also added splashes of colour around the edibles within the garden, which included fig trees, pear trees, rosemary and rainbow chard.

Alan's garden was built by Chelsea stalwarts, Landform Consultants, and won a Silver medal and Best Artisan/Sanctuary Garden.

The RHS Malvern Spring Festival is the curtain-raiser of the annual flower show calendar, and runs in early May, set underneath the rolling Malvern Hills. The 2022 show provided London Stone with the opportunity to work with Midlands-based designer Karen Tatlow, on her The Cancer Research UK Legacy Garden, which was designed to celebrate those leaving donations to the charity in their wills.

This immersive garden gave visitors the unique opportunity to travel through the garden and immerse themselves in the beauty of the space. London Stone's large format Anthracite Porcelain Paving was selected by Karen, as it gave the garden a cooling, calming feel, befitting of the garden's delicate subject matter. Every large-scale 800x800mm porcelain tile was bespoke cut using our state-of-the-art CNC machine, as the garden uses circular shapes and revolves around several focal points including water features and sculptures, as well as a specially-created porcelain circle, engraved with the charity's message of, 'Your Pledge, Our Research'.

Soft landscaping envelopes the garden, with some of the plants selected having been used in drugs that help treat cancer. Soft purples, pinks, and creams within the plant selection add splashes of calming colour amongst the verdant bedding plants. Aquilegia, euphorbia, heathers, and cercis are all present amongst the abundance of planting. This garden won a Silver-Gilt medal, along with the coveted 'People's Choice Award', and 'Best Construction' at the show.

Taking inspiration from an ancient Greek proverb that states, 'A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in', this garden was designed-and-built by Neil Sutcliffe and his Notts-based Creative Roots team. The 2021 RHS Tatton Park garden indicates how supporters of Cancer Research UK — by leaving donations in their will — continue the fight against cancer, after they have gone.

London Stone's Florence White Porcelain gave this intricate garden its pale base. Porcelain paving with a minimalist, contemporary feel was favoured to really let the plants and form of the garden shine. London Stone bespoke cut all of the paving to exacting standards, including the use of water jet cutting. The paving also features the Cancer Research UK message of, 'Your Pledge, Our Research', which was created by engraving the porcelain tiles.

The garden features stylish stainless steel water rills throughout the angular paving, but is softened with polished concrete sculptural seating by Ben Barrell. A mature oriental plane tree sits as the central focal point of the garden, where visitors were allowed to experience the garden first-hand by moving through it, allowing time for quiet contemplation and relaxation.

The gold-medal-winning garden has an intriguing planting scheme, with areas shielded by copper beech hedging to add privacy and scale, as well as a shady woodland planting — including ferns and hostas — underneath the circular garden roof canopy. Perennials such as hydrangea, foxglove, and agapanthus, mirror the company colours of Cancer Research UK.