Chelsea Flower Show designers urged to ‘bring nature back’ with eco-friendly gardens

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Gardens teeming with native plants and wildflowers will take centre stage at the Royal Horticultural Society’s four-day event – its first spring show since 2019.

Designers have been tasked with “bringing nature back” to transform green spaces into wildlife-friendly havens visitors can explore.

Hawthorn will feature prominently alongside other woodland trees and shrubs including hazel, crab apple, weeping willow and hornbeam.

Cow parsley, poppies and nectarrich buttercups will add to the pastel colour palette.

Native plants are thought to be better for the environment than exotic ones as their nectar is preferred by bees, butterflies and other key pollinators.

Elsewhere, designer John Everiss is creating the RAF Benevolent Fund’s first garden at the show, which will reflect on the Battle of Britain.

Royal Air Force veteran and longtime horticulturalist Reg Lawrence, 89, announced the garden plans with Flying Officer Hugh Edgar from RAF Queen’s Colour Squadron.

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The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is also being celebrated – while a Rewilding Britain Landscape will include native field maples to demonstrate the “dramatic transformation” of land through beaver reintroductions.

Last January, the RHS postponed the Chelsea Flower Show for the first time in its 108-year history.

The event was rescheduled to take place in the autumn instead of spring because of the pandemic.

Helena Pettit, RHS director of gardens and shows, said: “We can’t wait to see the return of a spring RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2022 and welcome our visitors back after a two-year wait.

“The show is jam-packed with stunning gardens and inspirational displays and with an abundance of wildlife-friendly planting, we won’t be the only ones buzzing!”

It is not yet known whether the Queen, who is a frequent visitor to the floral spectacle, will attend.

• The RHS Chelsea Flower Show takes place from May 24 to 28. To book, visitrhs.org.uk/chelsea

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