Highlights from RHS Chelsea Flower SHow 2024

What a magical week RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024 was! From show gardens created by top designers, floral displays from around the world in the Great Pavilion to award-winning floristry designs. How gorgeous is this years RHS Letters, crafted by London-based florists Pinstripes and Peonies. The display was created following eco-friendly principles, using a spectacular of heavenly pink peonies grown in the UK, and complimented with soft white and green flowers and foliage. 

We had a fabulous day exploring RHS Chelsea Flower Show, here are some of our personal highlights.

The Octavia Hill Garden by Blue Diamond with the Nation Trust

The stand out show garden from this years RHS Chelsea has to be The Octivia Hill Garden. Not only did the garden be awarded Silver Gilt Medal by the judges, but it stole the heart of the people too; scooping both the new RHS Children’ Choice Award and voted People’s Choice Best Show Garden. The buzz round the show garden was amazing, and there was always a queue for front viewing spots, with the crowds loving the colourful flowers and different areas of the garden to discover.

The Garden celebrates the life of one of the Nation Trusts founders, Octivia Hill, who greatly believed that ‘the healthy gift of air and the joy of plants and flowers’ were vital in everyone’s life.

The garden is cleverly designed to be a series of open-air sitting rooms, giving different spaces for visitors to connect with nature and take in the atmosphere, sounds of nature, scents, colours and textures that surround them. The path winds through the different areas and levels which includes a serene wildlife pond, twisting stairs leading to an observation platform, walking stream and planted canopy.

We loved the focus on the clever planting and touches to encourage garden wildlife, with things like the pond , beautiful bird boxes hanging from trees and bee friendly plants.

Floral Creations Competition

Every year, RHS Chelsea host floristry competitions to showcase the finest floral artists in Britain, all vying for prestigious  RHS Medals, and the golden crown of RHS Chelsea Florist of the Year. This year the two new categories of Floral Creations and Creative Spaces meant the great Pavilion was filled with mesmerising installations of floral sculptures and bold arrangements to story tell using blooms. Every direction we turned we saw breathtaking designs by the likes of Kitten Grayson Flowers,Sarah Horne Academy, Wild at Heart, Days of Dahlia and many more.

A brand new competition category for 2024, Floral Creations saw talented floral designers create arrangements under the theme of “Colour”. This years RHS Gold Medal and RHS Chelsea Florist of the Year 2024 went to Lara Thorpe, Wild at Heart, for her stunning Spectrum of Fire creation. This grabbed the judges attention with a willowy structure adorned with flowers in shades of red, orange and yellow, sitting on a charred timber plinth - artfully mimicking the burning heat of fire.

We also adored Laura Pannitt, from Helen James Flowers, Burst design (pictured left) which scooped a RHS Gold Medal from the judges. An intricate design reflecting how nature or a great idea starts muted, before finally blooming into bright colour and energy. Muted earthy tones & natural materials at the base crescendo into beautiful seasonal flowers such as ranunculus, clematis and cosmos in hot pinks, purples and warm orange - creating the ‘burst’ of colour.

The Great Pavilion

Inside the Great Pavilion, there is a a whole host of delightful exhibitors, installations and competitions to explore.  We love wondering around the marquee to expore the 100+ exhibitors who have travelled from across the country and internationally to attend RHS Chelsea. The Great Pavilion is nearly 3 acres in size, so we had lots to explore including Peter Beales Roses, Primrose Hall Peonies and Sienna Hosta.

Our Exhibitor highlight and creating quite a buzz this year was new exhibitors She Grows Veg, who specialise in Heirloom Vegetable Seeds. Your couldn’t not stop and look at their stand, it was so eye-catching and different! The stunning display, which scooped a well deserved RHS Gold Medal,  featured their fabulous vegetables in rainbow colours, presented in a twist on Renaissance paintings, with thanks to florist Hazel Gardener. It was really inspiring to see the different kinds of heirloom veg you can grow yourself at home, and we couldn't resist taking home a pack or 2 of seeds to try growing ourselves.

Have you ever seen vegetables look quite so stylish?