Design Inspiration from the 2015 Chelsea Flower Show: Plants, Color & Structure

Attending the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is like stepping into the epicenter of garden design. Held outdoors on the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the show blends world-class horticulture with the unpredictability of British weather—rain included. Over five days in May, designers unveil show gardens that push creative boundaries, while the Great Pavilion overflows with nursery displays and plant collections.

I spent a day photographing the 2015 exhibits, and the ideas were too numerous for a single story. This installment focuses on standout design concepts, plant combinations, and individual plants that caught my eye.

Garden Design Trends

Drought-Tolerant Drama

In the Royal Bank of Canada Garden, Matthew Wilson channeled Mediterranean landscapes, tucking succulents and arid plants into a vertical stone wall for a modern-meets-rustic effect. The planting wasn't just tough—it was transparent, with ornamental alliums and bearded irises creating a see-through veil that invited views deep into the garden.

Color-Blocking à la De Stijl

Marcus Barnett's Telegraph Garden drew inspiration from the Dutch De Stijl movement, using rectilinear bands of color. A white block dazzled with foxtail lilies (Eremurus), white violas, ornamental onions, and silver artemisia. Red blocks interplanted 'Red Hat' tulips with wavy hair grass and burgundy astilbe foliage. A silver-and-orange scheme at the base of a sculpture paired silvery Astelia and artichoke foliage with orange Geum and bronzy carex—a recipe easily adapted for containers or small beds.

Vertical Rhythm

Darren Hawkes' Brewin Dolphin Garden used stately English elms to anchor massive slate walls, while perennials at their base—foxgloves, columbine, plume poppy, viburnum, larkspur, angelica—echoed the vertical lines. In Adam Frost's Homebase Garden, foxgloves, bearded irises, euphorbias, and hardy geraniums created a dynamic, insect-friendly tapestry.

Mounded Calm

Clipped yew domes (Taxus baccata) anchored Frost's border, providing year-round structure, visual calm, and nesting habitat for wildlife.

Standout Plants

Noninvasive Gooseneck Loosestrife

Lysimachia atropurpurea 'Beaujolais' appeared in multiple gardens. Its wine-hued spikes paired beautifully with white Centranthus album and silver Artemisia absinthium 'Lambrook Silver' in Jo Thompson's M&G Garden.

Geum – The Chelsea Darling

Geum rivale 'Flames of Passion' (zones 4–8) stole the show with its long bloom time, compact habit, deer/rabbit resistance, and butterfly appeal.

Golden Hop Vine

Humulus lupulus 'Aureus' glowed lemon-lime against traditional wattle fencing—a fast-growing vine for trellises or fences.

Winning Plant Combinations

Colorful Perennial Mosaic

Chris Beardshaw's Morgan Stanley Garden wove together purple Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna', peach Verbascum 'Merlin', blue Camassia, and pink geranium into a harmonious tapestry.

Earthy Lesotho Palette

Matt Heightley's Sentebale Garden transported visitors to southern Africa with orange wallflowers (Erysimum 'Apricot Twist' and 'Winter Rouge'), yellow aloes, blue-green euphorbia, and Senecio serpens against rustic hardscape.

More:
See Winning Gardens From the 2015 Chelsea Flower Show
At the Chelsea Flower Show, a Jewel-Colored, Wildlife-Friendly Garden