No other event draws a crowd quite like Chelsea Flower Show. More than a home for peonies and pansies, this world-famous event brings together royalty, celebrities, and journalists alike for a spectacular showcase of outdoor brands and garden design.
This year we were on hand to staff an exclusive press event on behalf of David Harber. The British sculptor is known for his exquisite garden creations and sundials, including the Torus, Armillary Sphere, Dark Planet and Chalice. 2023 marks the brand’s 30th anniversary – and for the first time in David’s thirty-year career, he has collaborated with another creative, Annoushka Ducas MBE – the luxury British jeweller behind the eponymous Annoushka jewellery line and founder of Links of London.
The result is Sycamore – a giant take on Ducas’s original 18ct Sycamore charm. This stunning centrepiece is crafted from stainless steel and coated in a luscious champagne gold finish. Delicate latticework and intricate leaf details adorn a rotating seat, which gently turns to take in panoramic views of the surrounding garden and landscape. Sycamore is quite unlike any other sculpture in the David Harber portfolio and marks a genius partnership between the two British brands.
Chelsea Flower Show is often a catalyst for brands launching new products, but it’s also a stunning display of garden design, too, with the annual show gardens taking centre stage. This year’s gardens all shone a spotlight on ways that gardening, and the outdoors can contribute positively to our health and wellbeing, as well as to the environment.
Horatio’s Garden at Chelsea 2023: Image courtesy of Horatio’s Garden
‘Horatio’s Garden’ won best in show. Designed by Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg, the duo behind Harris Bugg Studio, the garden – named after the eponymous charity which works with those recovering from spinal injuries – is the first fully accessible garden to win the category. Wheelchair accessibility was central to the design – the charity works to get those in recovery outdoors as part of their healing journey. Nature is pivotal to its work.
Savills ‘plot-to-plate’ inspired garden. Image courtesy of Savills
It may not have won best in show, but Savills’ plot-to-plate inspired garden made headlines, namely thanks to its visit from the Princess of Wales. A Silver Gilt medal winner, the garden combined ornamental and edible planting and the show’s first ever functioning outdoor kitchen. This outdoor kitchen and adjoining dining area were central to the garden’s design, where guests could enjoy meals prepared with ingredients from the potager and walled garden beyond, cementing the relationship between grower, guests, and chef. The future queen was pictured perusing the garden with a group of schoolchildren as part of the RHS’ Campaign for School Gardening. The ongoing interest in outdoor cooking and al fresco dining ensured this garden was a hit with the press, racking up more headlines than the show winner.
The Samaritans’ Listening Garden. Image courtesy of The Samaritans
The Samaritans’ Listening Garden was the personal choice of head of design Izzy, who attended this year’s event. Designed by award-winning garden designer and Samaritans volunteer Darren Hawkes, the garden marked 70 years of the charity. It was designed to depict how while some paths in life can feel full of obstacles, when viewed from a new or unique perspective, the road – and journey – can seem clearer and less overwhelming. The garden featured a stunning juxtaposition of huge curtains of raw concrete and anxiety-inducing thin cable wires above a delicate blanket of planting below. Once beyond the brutal architecture, the garden opened out into a welcoming sanctuary complete with water feature, Elm tree and group seating area, a metaphorical representation that there is hope and support out there once you overcome life’s challenges.
But perhaps what gained the most share of voice from this year’s show – aside from the fact it was one of the first public events attended by our newly-coronated King and Queen – was the new rule established this year that all show gardens must have a plan for life once the gates close, whether it be a complete relocation or rehoming in parts. The winning garden will be relocated to Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital, to provide respite and an outdoor space for its patients and continue the vital work of the charity. This is a much welcome introduction from the RHS; many of last year’s gardens rehomed elements of the final designs, but this year’s requirement demonstrates how the RHS, and industry is modernising with the times.
For further information on the David Harber x Annoushka Sycamore sculpture, please download the full press release here.
