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• Tuesday, June 11th, 2019
Elements of Sheffield garden

It was on a rainy day that I visited the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show but that didn’t dampen my spirit. I was indeed looking forward to seeing the show gardens which despite being quite small (6x4m) all had interesting features that made them look bigger.

I was particularly impressed by the ‘Elements of Sheffield’ garden as the sunken seating area combined with a soft water feature and rich planting made it feel quite cosy.  I enjoyed the compact planting of flowers such as purple Lysimachia atropurpurea combined with bright Achilleas and Digitalis, as well as the use of airy plants such as bronze stemmed Anthriscus.

Also contributing to the cosy feeling of the garden is the use of moss in the soft cascade from the constructed back wall.

A key theme for this year was mindfulness, highlighting the benefits of gardening and the great green outdoors on mental health.

One particular flower that stood out for me this year was Geum, since it was used in a lot of displays in all shades of apricot colours and I found that it complemented other plants in shades of copper really well. In fact I spotted such Geum in the wild as the trip to Chatsworth offered the opportunity of a walk in the Peak district. And it thrived in the Lathkill Dale alongside the Jacob’s Ladder, in full bloom at this time of year.

Eutierra garden

Another show garden which appealed to me was called Eutierra (gold medallist too), which although minimalist felt quite peaceful thanks to the dominance of green walls, hostas and ferns.

Finally in the beekeeper’s stand I couldn’t resist to get some seeds for the allotment, including Teasel and Ammi, to help attract bumblebees and lacewings in the garden.

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