I had a completely different article lined up for this week – and then I realised, belatedly, it’s the Chelsea Flower Show! Can a garden designer really ignore the world’s most prestigious display of garden design talent?

Yes! I have done on many occasions, but this year I’ve decided to join the fray, in my own way, of course…

I have a nostalgic love of the Chelsea Flower Show, but now, I’m not sure how I feel – I definitely don’t love it, that’s for sure. Perhaps, by the end of this piece I’ll be able to crowbar out my true feelings…

But before we get to my thoughts, I will share a video from a lovely lady gardener. Annette, clearly hasn’t lost her love of Chelsea and makes a thoroughly refreshing report, a welcome relief from many of the banal stuff the Beeb broadcast in their misguided attempts to ‘sex gardening up’…

I too love the Mother Nature Sculpture, it is spectacular and the planting perfect for it. I also appreciated aspects of the Parkinson’s Garden.

And here in lies the start of where I started to lose my love of the Chelsea Flower Show many years ago…

Most of what you see, the really good parts, can’t and won’t ever be reproducible in the average garden. And in truth, would look ridiculous if people tried. Chelsea gardens, to a large extent, rely on fancy features, rather than intrinsically good design.

Did you like the squiggly rill in Tom Stuart-Smith’s garden? Beautifully executed, wasn’t it. Now imagine living with it – chances are high you’d turn your ankle the first time you absentmindedly walked across it and can you imagine the work to keep it clean? Most people don’t think of these aspects. As a designer, I do. So I can’t enjoy looking at something that’s both potentially lethal and would be a complete nightmare to maintain.

The very first Chelsea Flower Show I attended I saw a planting combination of Astilbe and Stachys together – it niggled at me immensely. Even fresh out of college I knew one is a marginal plant that needs its feet constantly wet and the other is built to survive drought conditions.

In the last decade there’s been a huge trend at Chelsea for natural looking flower gardens – whilst I do really love that style, there are times when it crosses over into a handful of weeds look. I have that on the new allotment plot I’ve taken on, I don’t want to see it at Chelsea! Also, that trend has been going for ages with virtually every garden trying to recreate naturalistic planting contrasted with lumps of concrete in one form or another – can we have some more variety now?

Faux, Faux, Faux-what?

Everything about the Chelsea Flower Show is faux, so where does one draw the line? The gardens are like lands in the Faraway Tree, there one minute, gone the next. So does it really matter if they are in their essence unachievable fantasy gardens?

If you think about it, every tended garden on the planet is contrived. The mere act of gardening is an interference, albeit in a hopefully aesthetically pleasing way, with nature. So again, where doesn’t one draw the line?

If you’re going to create something contrived, why not go the whole hog and take it as far as you can?

Here in lies the other reason I fell out of love with the Chelsea FS…

For the first exciting ten years of my garden design career I went to the Show religiously. I was like a kid at Christmas. My yearly pilgrimage was one of excitement and expectation.

But after a few years I started to notice that although the gardens were seemingly spectacular, nothing was new, or dare I say it, original. Every year there was the rock garden, the Japanese garden, the show garden with the large metal structures, the show garden with the extravagant water feature, the garden with the really large sculpture etc.

It was formulaic. I was no longer inspired. I’d seen it all before.

I still carried on going for a few years after this realisation had dawned, but not with the same levels of enthusiasm. The last 3 years, I only went because a garden designer friend of mine, Jean, knew one of the stand holders and managed to get us tickets for press day.

We’d be elbow to elbow with all the celebs and within an arm’s reach of royalty. And best of all, no heaving crowds to fight our way through just to catch a glimpse of the gardens. If you’re going to do the Chelsea Flower Show, I highly recommend press day!

I don’t recall the year I last went but it was the one Diarmuid Gavin had created a contentious garden with giant concrete hollow balls you could sit in surrounded by huge lavender bushes and box balls. Unfortunately for him, the lavenders hadn’t flowered in time and he lost out on a coveted Gold Medal.

Diarmuid Gavin’s partner in TV reality show crime, Lawrence Lewellyn-Bowen was flitting around in a purple suit with a white shirt with an over-sized collar and flouncy sleeves. Yes, it was that long ago (I’ve just looked it up 2005)!

It was at these Chelsea FS press days I discovered how incredibly tiny celebrities are. It’s like they all popped out of the same factory – just the right size for TV. And I say that as someone who isn’t exactly tall!

Chelsea is absolutely bursting with celebs on press day – Joanna Lumley, Dame Judy Dench, Gary Lineker, Alan Titchmarsh, Kim Wilde, to name but a few were regular faces. Daytime TV people and a lot of actors I probably should have known the names of but didn’t.

An Ab Fab Encounter

One person did stand out though – actress, June Whitfield. I’ve been told on numerous occasions that I really should get a refund on my poker face. My every thought plays across my face like a TV screen. So when I saw her (years after she’d been on Ab Fab) – I knew, I knew her, but I couldn’t immediately place her.

She held eye contact with me the entire time my brain was trying to process who she was with a mischievous glint in her eyes and at the moment the lightbulb in my brain finally flickered into life, she gave me an all-knowing smile, a little nod and a raised eyebrow. I could almost hear her saying – “Now that didn’t take you long, dear!”

But there was more to it than that. There was a look on her face that also conveyed she appreciated I’d acknowledged her but hadn’t come up to pester and talk. It’s amazing how much can be conveyed in silent expressions. But then that is what makes a great actor, isn’t it…

It was a brief but quite profound moment of connection. There was depth and a sparkle of mischievousness in her eyes – perhaps she recognised a fellow mischief maker. Few celebs actually have star quality when you meet them. Most look right past you, with empty, life-less expressions, akin to waiters in a busy restaurant.

So memories like that and feeling incredibly inspired in the early days of the Chelsea Flower Show tug on my heart, decades later.

But. Here we are, 2026 with another layer of yuck I don’t know how to process.

I can cope with the ridiculously impractical gardens, the financially obscene extravagance, the repetition and lack of meaningful originality in the designs but there’s a new element (well new-ish to me) that leaves me feeling… I don’t even know what word to use. Empty doesn’t quite cover it.

Perhaps desolate is the closest I can find for now…

For years the Chelsea Flower Show has had woke leanings with designers jumping on board like their lives depend upon it. No, that’s not the yuck, I’m talking about – it’s the further infiltration and seeping of the darkness that seems to constantly surround us these days.

My garden is my sanctuary. A place I can fully open my heart to nature’s exquisite creations and be at peace. A place I can, for a time, forget the ugliness of the outside world. A place I can be free from the algorithms and AI.

The Dark Side

Three of the Chelsea Flower Show gardens this year were design by AI. Not assisted, designed by. I think a little part of my soul has just died writing that.

Sure, AI is a fabulous tool for helping people visualise the finished design as I will demonstrate in my next garden design video. But to design the whole thing… I suppose it is inevitable. ‘Progress’, as they like to call it. But in reality – de-humanising humanity.

The darker side of AI, after we’re done playing with it, is just that. De-humanisation.

To create, to have inspiration flowing through every part of your being, is glorious. It also takes a bit of work. Inspiration can be like trying to grasp a feather on a windy day – but once you have, the rewards are feeling so alive and you form a connection with your creation like nothing I can describe with flimsy, ill-fitting words. So I’m not even going to try.

In essence, we will lose what it is to be human if we outsource our creativity.

To create, I believe, is one of the reasons we are here. As well as the whole earth school, soul-journey stuff. People who have never achieved the heights of creativity, as frustrating as it can be, will never have fully lived, expressed themselves or the Divine spark, which runs through all living things. Soon there could be a whole generation who will not even know what creativity is, only computer generated everything.

So that’s where I’m at with the Chelsea Flower Show. Heart-felt nostalgia mixed with heart-numbing emptiness. Which, now that I’ve analysed it, has nothing to do with Chelsea and is merely a reflection of all that is upon us right now. All things considered, I’m usually remarkably upbeat about life – but when the digital darkness seeps into the garden, it’s too close to home to tune out of.

All that aside, one thing the Chelsea Flower Show will always be spectacular at is showing off beautiful plants. Scraping away all of the other stuff, a love and appreciation of plants is something which we can unite on. And whilst I’ve no plans to go back to Chelsea, I can and do appreciate the plants in my own garden. Here’s what I’m blessed with today…

And if you’d like me to show you the simple formula I’ve developed that will enable you to design your garden (yes YOU, not a machine!) – then come and join me for a FREE garden design class https://www.successfulgardendesigner.com/free-classes

Next week there will be a considerably more uplifting piece on how to transform your garden, quickly and easily and have it not only take care of itself, but also you can take it with you when you move!

The biggest bang for your buck for an extended flowering season is undoubtedly bulbs. I’m not just talking about spring bulbs either, though we will start there.

But Before We Go Extending…

The REAL key to a sumptuous planting scheme is structure. What I’m covering in this article is the icing and cherries on an already perfectly formed cake, so please don’t assume these suggestions will fix a chaotic planting scheme, they won’t. What they will do is add longevity and extra strength to one that works. If you need help fixing chaos, this article will help you fix what’s not working https://www.successfulgardendesign.com/planting-border-design-cheat/

No, not Daffs!

I don’t like Daffodils! There, I said it. For me, the yellow is often so bright it’s an assault on the eyes at the end of winter (I’m not a lover of florescent yellow). Also, I associate Daffs with council roadside planting, another reason I don’t want them in the garden (yes, I admit it, I am a plant snob)!

That said, if you’re not a plant snob & you love yellow, they are one of the showiest early flowering bulbs you can get. My preference however, is Hyacinths and Tulips, albeit a little later. I can get those in colours that suit my preferred palette of purple / pink / white/ blue.

My Favourite Flower Season Extenders

What makes for a successful scheme is not to have only one plant flowering and the rest of the garden as dead as the proverbial Dodo. Tulips tend to come up 2-6 weeks later than Daffs and therefore have more plants to partner with.

I nearly planted some last year and then didn’t – I regretted it this year seeing so many beautiful pictures of them on Substack – so I succumbed and have just planted these from Cambridge Farmers’ Outlet, albeit rather late in the season!

Hyacinths were something I had pegged in my mind as ‘old people’ flowers… that was until I found a clump of  highly scented midnight purple ones flowering on my allotment and immediately fell in love, hoiked them out and took them back home to plant!

A Flowering Relay Team…

Although I teach people to design their planting schemes with good combinations, as it’s the marriage of plants that creates the harmony which sings to the soul, it does help if there is a succession to keep the combination alive as long as possible…

Stalwarts & Showstoppers

To illustrate what I’m talking about, let’s take Euphorbia wulfenii – a true garden stalwart – reliable, evergreen, with glorious lime green flowers that glow when doused with sunlight. It flowers from March to the end of June for me. It looks fantastic with many plants but I particularly love it with purple flowers.

• Euphorbia’s purple partners: Season start – Purple tulips, closely followed by Allium Purple Sensation, then the final flurry of lavender and purple foxgloves.

Each purple flower rising and falling, passing the purple baton onto the next until finally the combination is no more. Halfway through this sumptuously slow relay race, the roses come into the fray, all showy and spectacular, commanding centre stage (and a lot of fussing to keep them looking fabulous!).

As the Euphorbia and purple flower combinations sing their final song, the roses are in full flurry and then the combinations revolve around them. This is where summer bulbs become fabulous bedfellows. The beauty of bulbs, other than their flowers, is they don’t take up too much space, so they can easily be slotted in to enhance your main planting scheme.

Filling the Mid-Season Slump

There’s always that point when perhaps the roses are taking a breather and other flowers fade and you have a week or two with not much. For this time I like the drumstick Allium (sphaerocephalon) & purple Liatris. When they are mixed into borders they bring it to life when lavenders, salvias and roses aren’t quite at their best. They also help hold the fort until the blue Agapanthus do their thing. Selective summer bedding like Geraniums and Petunias (I’ve got over my plant snobbery on these!) also keep the colour buoyant.

Autumn Extenders

I ditch trying to extend with bulbs at the end of the season and go with two autumn stalwarts – Sedum & Asters. Sedums (Purple Emperor is my fave). They usually flower from August to October and Asters, if you’re lucky might manage from September to beginning November, depending on variety. Don’t ask me which Aster I have in my garden, I don’t know – it was unnamed from a local nursery, so it’s a mystery!

The purple flower baton gets passed around my garden from late March to early November and I look forward to this year’s slow, steady, procession of plant perfection.

Want to learn more?

Join one of my free online garden design classes https://www.successfulgardendesigner.com/free-classes

Here’s what I’ll show you…

Ice Age Farmer video

Get Composting Council Discounts

https://getcomposting.com/

Food Garden Formula Half-Price sale https://www.successfulgardendesigner.com/food-garden

The Food Garden Formula is FREE with Rachel’s other garden design courses which are on half-price sale until 26th April https://www.successfulgardendesigner.com/easter

As the world gets crazier and more unpredictable by the day, there are still some certainties (other than death and taxes!)…

Fuel price increases = Food price increases. Guaranteed. 

By this autumn, possibly sooner, you will see it and feel it. By winter, especially if there have been poor yields for whatever reason, food prices could be astronomical. Even if they are not, they will be considerably higher than they are now.

Every single part of our supply chain requires fuel.

Fuel tankers (which can only go about the same speed as a bicycle!) still arrived from the Strait of Hormuz until mid-April and look at the price increases. Now it’s shut for who knows how long, what we’re paying now will look a drop in the ocean as prices soar further.

Yes, I know only about 20% of the fuel comes through the Strait – prices will still spike regardless of that you can guarantee. The moneymen will always maximise their profit from the chaos they cause…

Your best defence is your own garden (or allotment)!

Unless you are somewhere tropical, it takes a minimum of 3 months to grow food.

Start growing right NOW! Preferably something high nutrient and calorie dense like potatoes, which can be stored for the winter months.

“Being prepared is NOT the same as panicking” – Sutton Daze YouTube Channel

Buy a couple of extra tinned food each week and build up some reserves. Cancelling Netflix & Amazon Prime etc and spending on food will be a far better investment.

“I don’t have the space to grow veggies!”

Yes you do.

You just have to get a little bit creative with how…

Stuff it in existing borders – just get growing food… do not wait until you can see you need to!

Make it attractive – especially if your other half is resistant to the idea…

Even modern gardens can grow edibles…

If you’re willing to go whole hog, and convert your entire garden, fantastic! Raised beds will help keep things neat and manageable. And automatic irrigation and mulches to suppress weeds will reduce the hard work dramatically.

Box hedging (or the pest-free, Lonicera alternative) can also make any vegetable growing area look smart. If you have room and the budget for a greenhouse, go for it – it will extend your growing season by a couple of months, maybe more.

Plant plenty of pollinators to attract bug eating wildlife so the pests don’t devour your crops before you do!

I’ve put a few more cunning vegetable growing ideas in this video…

I’ve also created a full course (which I’m in the process of adding more content to) which is currently on half-price sale https://www.successfulgardendesigner.com/food-garden  on how to design an attractive food producing garden.

The Food Garden Formula is free with all my other garden design courses which are in the Easter sale until 26th April.

Right now, I’m putting as much time as I possibly can into my allotment. I’ll show you what I’m doing in a future video!

If you’d like to attend one of my free regular online garden design classes you can do so here: https://www.successfulgardendesigner.com/free-classes

Find out more about The Food Garden Formula https://www.successfulgardendesigner.com/food-garden

Garden design course Easter Sale https://www.successfulgardendesigner.com/easter choose Sarpo variety potatoes as they are one of the most blight resistant!

Viking Growing System course https://vikinggrowingsystem.com/

If you’re someone who makes New Year resolutions in January – how long did they last? Trying to “start afresh” in the middle of winter doesn’t tend to work, and for good reason…

The spring equinox is different. It’s the point in the year when day and night are in balance, and from that moment on (in the northern hemisphere) the light starts winning. Buds swell. Birds get busy. Soil warms. Life springs forward.

Consider it your spring equinox reset: a way to start the real New Year with a plan that saves you time, money, and a whole lot of garden frustration. And if you’d like to do the complete garden design course, there’s a special half-price offer at the end of the class! 

Let the battle commence…

If you’d like to attend one of my brand new FREE online garden design classes you can do so on this page: https://www.successfulgardendesigner.com/new-class 

A lovely Successful Garden Design student called, Marsha, whom I’ve known for a while as we did an online training course many moons ago, reached out and offered to do a business coaching session.

She’s managed to stoke enough enthusiasm for me to give things another go. Rather than assuming AI will just take over everything, she’s encouraged me to show people why AI & cheap garden design courses (which only really show colouring in) won’t help.

But what AI is excellent for is helping people visualise their design (as the image above shows) so I will also teach people how to do that part once they’ve got the design right!

It’s also great for quickly colouring plans. Here’s an example from a student plan review I did last year…

And here’s my own budget garden makeover plan using a different AI assistant to add the colour…

You can see how the real garden turned out here!

Since it was the cost of advertising which was killing the business, I’m now going to create a series of short video tutorials for Instagram & YouTube.

I’m also in the process of setting up affiliates so you can promote the courses and earn a commission for doing so!

So expect the content to be a little different and it may not be every week as I’m also doing a lot more non-garden related book writing. I’m currently finishing the Misadventures book series as well as undertaking my first fiction book for teenagers – it’s the antidote to the increasing amount of ‘woke’ they are subjected to at school.