RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Plants in The King’s Trust Garden: Seeding Success

The plant selection focusses on species that are adapted to our increasingly volatile climate and the more resilient the planting scheme, the more successful the garden will be. The colour scheme is muted silvery greys and greens with accents of colour including yellow, purple and white

Allium ‘Hair’ – allium

Allium ‘Hair’
Allium ‘Hair’

‘Hair’ is a clump-forming, bulbous perennial, to around 60cm tall, with grass-like, round, hollow leaves. In summer, straight stems bear striking flowerheads up to 4cm across, with bright green hair-like strands bursting from purple centres.

Poa labillardierei – New Zealand blue grass

A semi-evergreen grass forming a dense clump of arching, very slender blue-green leaves to 60cm long, with airy sprays of purplish flowers held above the foliage in mid summer.

Poa labillardierei
Poa labillardierei

Pinus nigra – Austrian pine

Pinus nigra
Pinus nigra

Pinus nigra towers above the garden, providing a high canopy for the understorey of Ostrya carpinifolia and Phillyrea angustifolia. A large evergreen tree developing an irregular, dense crown with age. The dark green needles, up to 12cm long, are held in pairs and the oval cones ripen to pale brown.

“The most numerous plants are those which we might call ‘pioneer’ species – those which germinate, flower and set seed within a single season. These include honesty, poppy species, Nigella and Pulsatilla.”

Joe Perkins, garden designer

Phillyrea angustifolia – jasmine box

Phillyrea angustifolia
Phillyrea angustifolia

This resilient evergreen shrub boasts a compact, rounded form reaching up to 3m (9ft) in height if left unclipped. Phillyrea angustifolia features narrow, leathery leaves up to 6cm (2in) long, lending a dark green texture reminiscent of olive foliage. In late spring and early summer, clusters of small, fragrant creamy-yellow to off-white flowers emerge from the leaf axils, producing black berries later in the season if the summer has been long and hot enough. 

Thermopsis chinensis – Chinese false lupin

A clump-forming herbaceous perennial to 60cm tall with pea-like, three-lobed leaves. From early spring, unbranched spikes of soft yellow, lupin-like flowers emerging from greyish-purple buds are held above the foliage.

Thermopsis chinensis
Thermopsis chinensis

Ostrya carpinifolia – hop hornbeam

Ostrya carpinifolia

© Franz Xaver

Ostrya carpinifolia

A deciduous tree, to around 15m high, conical when young and later spreading to rounded, with glossy, oval-shaped, deeply veined green leaves with doubly serrated edges. Yellow-green, pendent catkins open in spring, with male catkins reaching up to 7cm long, and smaller female catkins develop into hanging, hop-like seed clusters in late summer. Leaves turn yellow in autumn.

Plant lists are provided by the designer of the garden as a guide to the plants they hope to use in the Garden based on the time of year, the location and the Client Brief. The plants that feature at the Show depends on a variety of factors such as weather during the growing season and availability. While the designers try to update lists where possible, the accuracy of the list cannot be guaranteed.

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.