While the blockbuster show gardens on Main Avenue receive the lion’s share of attention at Chelsea, punters in the know wander over to the Balcony and Container Gardens where smaller and up-and-coming designers test their skills in small spaces.
Smaller gardens and balcony gardens are always challenging to design well because every inch of space has to work hard – there’s also no room to hide anything unsightly or extraneous.
I’ve been visiting Chelsea for nearly 20 years and these gardens are the place to look for inspiring design and planting ideas if you have a small space. Each space is 5m X 2m, considerably larger than many balconies, but there are plenty of tricks to try out at home.
The Transient Garden. Designed by Rebecca Lloyd Jones. | Photo credit: RHS / Josh Kemp-Smith
London’s property market means more people are renting for longer, but this shouldn’t put you off having a garden – make it modular so you can pack it up and to use in the next property you live in. “My garden is specifically aimed at renters. You put a lot of love into your garden, and you want to take it with you”, says Rebecca Lloyd-Jones of her Hamptons-sponsored garden. She advises looking for glass-reinforced plastic containers which will help you stay within weight restrictions. A false base allows you to have a tall planter without filling the entire volume with heavy soil. Rebecca’s came from Europlanters.
A Little Garden of Shared Knowledge sponsored by Viking. Designed Katerina Kantalis. Balcony Garden. | Photo credit: RHS / Josh Kemp-Smith
Everyone loves a pretty flower but this year’s balcony gardens were all about plants with purpose. Katarina Kantalis’ garden for Viking won Best on Show in this section, and it featured a kitchen garden with its very own potting table created by Bespoke Garden Products, as well as containers filled with delicious salad leaves, from rocket to pak choi. Edibles also grew on the room of a floating home designed by Kate Henning and Susie Kennedy for Kennedy’s property agents.
Tough herbs such as thyme, rosemary and oregano were used as decorative planting in almost every garden. Use plants like this at home and you’ll always have aromatics to hand.
Rosa glauca in Hedgerow in the Sky – Tech Mahindra. Designed by Sarah Mayfield and Monika Greenhough. | Photo credit: RHS / Josh Kemp-Smith
Never underestimate the draw of wildlife planting, even if you live a few floors up. Or, especially if you live a few floors up: pollinating insects have extraordinary powers of detection. Sarah Mayfield and Monika Greenhough’s garden for Tech Mahindra included layered planting that reflects the natural structure of hedgerows and offered year-round interest. It featured plants such as scabious, ragged robin, Rosa glauca, corncockles and umbellifers such as Anthriscus ‘Ravenswing’.
A Little Garden of Shared Knowledge sponsored by Viking. Designed Katerina Kantalis. | Photo credit: RHS / Josh Kemp-Smith
As in interiors, zoned areas can make a space feel larger, and clearly demarcated spaces appeared in several balcony gardens this year. Most were divided into spaces for working and relaxing. Rebecca Lloyd-Jones created a shaded home-working space, complete with an overhead sail. Katarina Kantalis developed a potting area and a seating area with a pomegranate tree in a large round container dividing the two spaces. Even if you don’t have a lot of space, a simple table will help define your balcony garden.
Flood Re: Contain the Rain Garden. Designed by John Howlett. | Photo credit: RHS / Josh Kemp-Smith
John Howlett’s Persian- and Morccan-inspired garden places water at its heart, turning a small space into a serene, water-wise retreat. But the real feature for me was the cohesiveness of his design: octagonal motifs featured in inlaid floor tiles, the shape of planters and even detail on doors. Turquoise and verdigris featured strongly, making a cool contrast for rich planting of hostas, deep purple heucheras, ferns, Siberica irises and even a few clipped yew balls.
Keeping elements cohesive is important in small gardens as well as larger ones. Too many disparate elements can make small gardens look cluttered and smaller than they really are. Find your style and stick to it, whether it’s in lamps, tiles or plant supports.
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The Whittard of Chelsea Garden. Designed by Ollie Pike. | Photo credit: RHS / Josh Kemp-Smith
If you want to drown out traffic noise and bring a soothing element to your garden, it’s well known that you should add a water feature. This reliable trick was used in almost every garden this year, appearing in sophisticated envelope spouts and small rills, to wall features and copper spouts.
Hedgerow in the Sky – Tech Mahindra. Designed by Sarah Mayfield and Monika Greenhough. | Photo credit: RHS / Josh Kemp-Smith
This year, rain chains featured in several gardens. This neat water-harvesting solution would work well when combined a solar-powered irrigation system so containers can be watered if you go on holiday.
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Hedgerow in the Sky – Tech Mahindra. Designed by Sarah Mayfield and Monika Greenhough | Photo credit: RHS / Josh Kemp-Smith
It’s easy to overlook the vertical aspect of a balcony garden but to miss this is to miss a trick, as this year’s gardens showed. Whether floating wall shelves to house succulents or seed trays, a large mural or water feature affixed to the wall or even a pergola up which to grow climbing plants, the vertical axis always makes a valuable contribution to the garden.
Tales from the Riverbank Garden sponsored by Kennedys’ Independent Property Agents. Designed by Susie Kennedy and Kate Henning. | Photo credit: RHS / Josh Kemp-Smith
Verticals don’t have to be limited to hard landscaping. Look to climbers such as Trachelospermum jasminoides, roses like ‘Rambling Rector’, Lonicera ‘Gold Flame’ and even Deutzia ‘Mont Rose’.
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