7 Natural Garden Design Ideas As Seen At Chelsea Flower Show 2023
If you are looking to create a magical, enchanted natural garden at home, you’ll be pleased to know that natural gardens that are wild and organic were the most popular garden design style at this week’s Chelsea Flower Show 2023. If you are looking for ideas on how you can create a natural garden in your own backyard that reflects an unrefined landscape, here are five easy steps to get the look.
Plant wild grasses
Allow unstructured borders
Implement curves and irregular shapes
Encourage insects and wildlife
Paint walls or fencing in earthy colours
Grow a living wall
Add natural materials
Wild grasses were scattered throughout this calming, natural garden at Chelsea.
Plant wild grasses
Wild grasses were everywhere at Chelsea dotted in-between more colourful blooms. Wild grasses add height as they dance attractively in the wind for a soothing and calming natural planting scheme. Stipa tenuissima and Deschampsia cespitosa have evergreen tussocks of stiff, mid-green leaves that work so well alongside delicate blooms in pink, white and blue.
The central walkway in this garden has not been manicured. Instead, plants are allowed to grow and crouch over the bricks, rather than tied or cut back to clear the path.
Keep borders unstructured
Rather than sharp edges to your walkways and paths, allow flowers and plants to gently hang over and push through. Precise lines and overly manicured borders are too rigid for a natural garden; instead, a wavy look with the draping and partial coverings of your paths embodies a more natural scheme.
This curved wood bench is gentle and pleasing on the eye.
Implement curves and irregular shapes
Curves and irregular shapes are softer on the eye and are more representative of shapes found in the natural world such as stones, water-filled lakes and leaves. Choose garden furniture that has a slight curve or bend to it, or hang blob mirrors or lay pebble-shaped paving or stepping stones.
Irregular-shaped paving slabs and a pond mirror were used in this aesthetically pleasing Chelsea balcony garden design.
Encourage insects and wildlife
A natural, plastic-free environment that is representative of meadows and forests attracts wildlife and insects to its habitat. Encourage birds, bees and butterflies by providing shelter with biodiversity houses, as well as planting bee and butterfly-friendly plants such as lavender and lilac bushes.
This biodiversity hotel for bees and insects has been designed by sustainable garden brand Gardena.
Paint walls or fencing in earthy colours
Garden walls and fences painted in earthy, sandy, rocky shades blend into a natural garden and become part of the landscape. Take inspiration from Sarah Price’s winning Chelsea garden and use soft pink, stone and terracotta tones to provide a backdrop to your natural garden planting.
Dusky, earthy pink tones were used to complement the Irises in this award-winning garden by Sarah Price.
The Nurture Landscapes Garden by Sarah Price at Chelsea Flower Show 2023.
Grow a living wall
If painting your walls or fences in earthy tones does not appeal, cover them instead with climbing plants to create a ‘living wall.’ Climbing roses, honeysuckles and jasmine plants all grow fast and provide great coverage that flowers in the warmer months. For an evergreen living wall that grows and covers at an expeditious rate, you can’t go wrong with lush green ivy.
This wall is covered with soft pink roses.
Add natural materials
Avoid plastic or PVC garden furniture or decor and instead, stick to garden furniture made from natural materials such as wood and rattan that changes with the sun and the natural elements. One of my favourite natural garden ideas that I saw at Chelsea was hanging the top half of a vintage wood dresser on an exterior wall to house terracotta pots.
I loved this white-washed cabinet top that housed terracotta pots.
A natural table setting with recycled tableware from Gardena.
