Curating spaces for wellness takes centre stage in the Balcony and Container Gardens category at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. With gardens taking inspiration from colour therapy and connecting to water to evoke tranquillity, each garden in the category is celebrating ways in which we can take care of ourselves through gardening.
Psychology of colour has been integral in the design process for MS Amlin Peace of Mind Garden by Hamzah-Adam Desai, with planting and design referencing a colour wheel. Shades of green feature prominently throughout the garden, commonly associated with nature and wellbeing, producing a calm and restorative atmosphere, reducing stress, improving cognitive function and enhancing creativity. Purples and blues are used to invoke peace and harmony while reds, yellows and oranges are energising and uplifting to boost confidence and stimulate appetite.
Exploring the connection between humans and water through the ‘blue mind’, the Navium Marine: Blue Mind Garden designed by Ashleigh Aylett curates a sense of calm from being close to water. Coastal planting offers resilient flora in muted blue and green tones, whilst floor tiles and pots created from discarded seashells from restaurants repurposes ocean materials. Ripple-effect cladding mimics the flow of water, reflecting light in wave-like forms, whilst a water feature creates soothing sounds beside a reflective pool.
Freddie Strickland and Ben Gifford’s A Space to Read Balcony Garden sponsored by Viking, and the Room to Breathe Hospital Garden for the TSA by Jen Donnelly and Catherine Gibbon both offer tranquil sanctuaries designed to foster calm and renewal. The former invites visitors to escape daily stresses and connect with nature, with a biophilic design centred around a magnificent flowering Cornus kousa.
Meanwhile the latter garden serves as a restorative retreat for caregivers, featuring a soothing palette of greens and whites symbolizing tranquillity, with splashes of burgundy representing resilience. An angled pergola subtly reflects life’s challenges and the journey toward realignment, offering solace in nature’s embrace.
Inspired by a biophilic design that harmonises with nature, Secret Base – The another green room is a hideaway where beautiful trees and the sound of water soothe visitors and awaken their senses for relaxation and a source of imaginative possibilities. The garden is designed by Jun Ishihara, son of renowned RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden designer, Kazuyuki Ishihara.
Also providing inspiration on how even the smallest outdoor spaces can be transformed into gardens that serve as a refuge is the Fettercairn Wilderness Retreat by Sally Giles, Sonia Kamel and Helier Bowling. Surrounded by wild and verdant planting reminiscent of the Cairngorms landscape, it echoes the grassy heathland, rocky outcrops and mossy glens where visitors can connect with the extreme elements to improve resilience. From the Scottish wilds to the Japanese forests of Nagano, the Komorebi Garden by Masa Taniguchi creates a magical experience of light piercing through a tree canopy and features a series of birch trees to create dappled shade and shimmering light.
Tiny is mighty in the C6 garden by Joshua Fenton where carbon sequestration, water recycling and wildlife gardening create a calming sophisticated space. The garden can slow down and store 450 litres of rainwater in its passively irrigating reservoirs and sequester 1200 kilograms of carbon with elements like bio char that improves soil and takes carbon out of the atmosphere for up to 1000 years. Serving as a sanctuary to unwind from the fast-paced dynamic of modern life, The ME + EM City Garden by Caroline and Peter Clayton has been designed for the working woman. Planters clad in moss green and soft pink bejmat tiles are overflowing with planting designed to catch the soft glow of the late afternoon sun—offering a soothing retreat for the senses.
