Chelsea Flower Show 2015

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is to a garden designer what Paris Fashion Week is to a fashion designer. For me it's an annual must-do and a great place to gather inspiration for my own projects.

Here are a few things that caught my eye as I wondered round.

Sculpture

There were some great ideas for focal points and interesting artworks. The man crouching by the ruin had an eerie, transulsant appearance. 

If you're ever in need of some kitsch then what better than a giant cherry?

Best in Show, well for me anyway....

There were a couple of gardens that stood out for me, the colour combinations and simple layouts work well.

Planting

Deep blues and violets next to burnt orange is the absolute on-trend of gardening combinations this season.

A few extra highlights.....

Hampstead Heath / Kenwood House - North London

On a beautifully sunny afternoon in London what better place could you be than watching the shimmering cityscape whilst surrounded by beautiful landscape at Hampstead Heath?

As I wondered past Kenwood House I thought to myself "what a beautifully English country landscape scene" and then I realised that this was in fact enhanced by one of the most famous english landscape architects; Humphry Repton. Many of what we think of as typical english landscape scenes are in fact 18th century 'enhanced' landscapes created by garden designers such as Capability Brown and Humphry Repton. It is the sweeping lawns and perfect vistas that give it away.

Although it is only March, the gloriously warm spring sunshine had produced a flourish of spring bulbs that were revealing their vibrant colours around the bases of old trees.

An anomaly only really seen (or should I say heard) in London are the bright green Parakeets that sing in shrill voices in the leafless trees, adding an air of London eccentricity to the walk.

It's thirsty work all this walking around the parkland......

Botanical Gardens - Vancouver, Canada

I was on my winter wonderland holiday in Canada and being the garden designer and horticulturalist that I am, I could not pass through Vancouver without popping into the Botanical Gardens to see what they had to offer.

It was a grey day in December so I was lucky enough to have the gardens mostly to myself and therefore managed to glimpse a few of the garden's inhabitants as I wondered quietly around.

Winter colour is something easily overlooked when planting a garden but here I found renewed enthusiasm for stem colour. The Rubus cockburnianus with its snowy white stems looks beautiful against the darker reds of the Cornus.

Sculpture and structure take on a new, almost spiritual appearance in winter. 

A festival of lights changed the mood of the gardens closer by the visitor centre into an enchanting and fun filled landscape.

Poppies - Tower of London

This may not be classed as Garden design but to me it is a beautiful and moving piece of art in the landscape.
With the sun shining on this sea of poppies that run all the way around the castellations it is overwhelming to think how many people died in the war.
The pictures speak for themselves....