Ten ways to update your garden, inspired by Chelsea Flower Show

It was a lovely sunny press day at Chelsea, and I trotted round looking out for interesting finds, scrutinising the smaller gardens and of course admiring the stunning plants while bumping into old friends and colleagues.

Small garden ideas

The Container Gardens and Balcony Gardens are new and highly popular categories. The designers were chosen through a competition, they had to be new to Chelsea and were given £5,000 towards the costs but they were encouraged to obtain further sponsorship.

More often than not, our container displays and balconies just evolve, so to see examples of what could be designed will no doubt open minds to the huge potential of these hard-working spaces. Martha Krempel’s Arcadia was a knockout. The centrepiece – some old Indian doors – sets the scene. An antique-dealer client acquired a container of old Indian doors that had been lying around for 20 years; Martha loved them and used them to replace the RHS standard-issue ones.

The pergola over the swing seat is covered with the bright red leaves of Parthenocissus quinquefolia; it is trained by strings threaded through carefully drilled holes in the timber. The painted backdrop on the “building” walls was subtle but helped transform the space. Autumnal colours are taken on to the cushions as well as in the planting. The abundance of foliage, thought and creativity of these five spaces will no doubt influence many balcony owners to revamp theirs.

Get your fill

The Container Gardens, like the Balcony Gardens, were five very different but inspirational gardens. The Hot Tin Roof, designed by Ellie Edkins, with its outdoor shower, white corrugated iron containers and corrugated backdrop, is cool and comfortable-looking. The Pop Street Garden, by John McPherson, who works for the Arts Council, is a riot of colour and full to bursting with cleverly painted tins, artefacts and boxes forming containers, seats and sculptures.

The IBC Pocket Forest, designed by Sara Edwards, utilised old intermediate bulk containers (inexpensive, apparently) to create huge planters. They collectively contained a mini forest and included a pool. The original white colour could have been transformed with a lick of paint, similarly the metalwork.

Bring the house down

Ian Drummond, a first-timer at Chelsea, exhibited the Green Room in the House Plant Studios category. The building appeared to be raised off the ground and was “suspended” by a fuchsia pink rope from an adjacent tree, like a huge macramé plant hanger.

In fact, there was a long mirror set under the shed so it added to the illusion of being suspended – very clever. Fuchsia pink (also hot at fashion week, apparently) exploded everywhere: neon rope lights, furniture, pots – not subtle, but all sensational.

Safe haven

In the Sanctuary Gardens category, the Finnish Soul Garden, by Taino Suonio, was brilliant. It contained a wood-fuelled sauna (£10,000) and a cool, natural bathing pool. Saunas are all the rage with my footballer clients – they have amazing health benefits.

The garden uses reclaimed elements (such as decking and rocks) and the green roof on the sauna was cleverly done. Taino works at the University of Helsinki as a researcher into green roofs. These help cool cities, create habitats for wildlife and slow down water run-off.

Plant picks

One of the most impressive stands in the Great Pavilion is Raymond Evison’s. It was his biggest to date, at 1,550 sq ft, with a central clematis-clad arbour. In all, there were 2,500 clematis on the stand. Raymond works with Guernsey Prison and the prisoners made the containers for the stand, helping them to learn new skills.

Getting clematis to perfection for September (when they had been grown for the May show) involved cutting the plants back to 2in in spring, putting them in a cold store for four weeks at 2C, to trick them into thinking winter had passed, and then letting them go again. One new for this year is the Duchess of Cornwall, selected eight years ago by Their Royal Highnesses, with magnificent blue-purple flowers 6in wide. It grows to 4ft 11in and flowers May-September. Raymond’s clematis flower for ages, a real breeding breakthrough. ‘Ice Blue’ starts in May and has been known to continue through to Christmas day.

Heal love

Raymond kindly gave the Horatio’s Garden stand 11 perfect Clematis ‘Sacha’, a rich purple, to echo the charity’s colours. I designed the containers and obelisks and planted them up. For the charity’s lime colour, I grew some Amaranthus caudatus ‘Viridis’, a fabulous and easy annual that is also edible. Many gardens were all about the healing power of gardening, but Horatio’s Garden (horatiosgarden.org.uk) has been implementing this message at spinal units in hospitals since 2012 and it walks the walk better than any.

The stuff of legend

I could not resist buying some F1 hybrid foxglove seeds from the Botanic Nursery & Gardens stand (botanicnursery.co.uk). The Camelot Series (four colours – white, rose, lavender and cream – I bought ‘Rose’, a rich magenta) will flower next June if I sow them now. Some 3ft high, the flowers are produced all round the stem and if you cut them back after flowering they will repeat. Mary Baker (Mrs Foxglove) has run the nursery since 1985, and is a mine of information on foxgloves – there are 24 species and around 40 cultivars. I had not realised that most species are perennial but the native is biennial.

The joy of shopping

Alex Denman, a former Chelsea Show manager, dragged me on to the Cashmere Caveman stand on Main Avenue as soon as I arrived. And I’m glad she did. It’s the new baby of the film director Guy Ritchie, a regular at Chelsea.

He told me he adores the outdoors and cooking over embers. Over the past six years, he has developed (obsessively) a retractable tent with iroko posts; inside it features a copper-clad table with an integral wood-fired stove running down the centre. Extremely comfortable swanky chairs are supplied, along with fabulous throws. Log stores are included, too.

Apparently the tent will withstand 30mph winds and it’s a good size, around 59 sq ft. The whole kit costs £50,000 and if you want extra party space, but don’t want to have to consider planning permission and have deep pockets, this could be just the answer. Otherwise, of course, you could recreate your own more affordable version.

Tools gold

Jake Hobson’s stand (niwaki.com) was as beautifully designed as ever. I bought some of his gloves. They come in four sizes and have a nylon/spandex liner and a nitrile coating. Thin, washable and good if you like to feel what you are doing. Jake reckons I’ll get one year’s use out of them. Jake opened up a flagship London shop in Chiltern Street last Tuesday. As well as selling his amazing range of Japanese gardening tools and cookware, it will also hold workshops and events throughout the year.

Cards on the table

I popped on to the Laura Stoddart stand and could not resist some cards. I have always loved Laura’s illustrations but now she has put her graphics on cards, mugs, tea towels and more. Laura told me one of her plant portraits takes around 10 painstaking days to perfect.