This week, I attended The Chelsea Flower Show - the most prestigious garden event of the year that’s a wealth of garden ideas and plant and flower inspiration. I was through the door dead on 9am and stayed until the evening to make sure that I covered every square foot of the show! From the large show gardens on Main Avenue, though to the balcony and container garden displays; the Grand Pavilion full of florals and the trade stands competing for attention via having the most ‘wow factor’, I find it an exhilarating day and an absolute must to attend if you are a garden or cut flower lover.

I always take my camera along to Chelsea as I find it so helpful to record the garden trends and ideas from the best people within the industry. I’m going to do multiple posts on everything I saw, but today, I’m going to focus on a few stunning garden ideas that I witnessed that you can steal for your own outdoor spaces at home.

Add An Outdoor Kitchen

The ultimate in garden luxury, the popularity of outdoor kitchens are really on the rise. I was especially enamoured by this garden kitchen designed by Spacelift - a new garden design app launched by award-winning garden designer Matt Kightley. I loved the soft, pearly surface design of the sage green tiles that blended in seamlessly with the wall of common ivy integrated as part of a wood pergola.

The accompanying concrete work surface is durable, as well as being a great space to place down a pizza oven and serveware.

Paint a boring wall a vivid colour

If you are a fan of bright colours, painting a plain back wall is a great idea to liven up an otherwise uninspiring space. What makes it even better is that greenery and plants really pop out against a vivid backdrop, and it can be done all for the price of a tin of paint. Little Greene sells all of their paint colours as exterior paint, which are durable and weather-resistant.

Add curves

Curves instantly soften a space, so try and add in some curvy elements to your garden or patio. I loved this burnt orange curvy garden seating area with a crab apple tree in the centre, as seen in the container garden section of Chelsea.

Layer planting using height

The planting schemes that really caught my eye at Chelsea Flower Show all had height layering; tall alliums or cow parsley at the back, moving down to lower height geums and salvia at the front. This created a full and interesting planting scheme, with purples mixed with orange tones and paired with pinks.

MIx tone and texture

As someone who is usually not a fan of minimal spaces, I saw so many inspiring gardens that used texture and tone to create interesting outdoor areas light on planting.

Create A reading nook

A garden should be a sanctuary - somewhere to escape and enjoy warmer temperatures and get five minutes peace - so creating a small reading nook is definitely a garden idea to steal. I especially loved this comfy outdoor chair and single stool as seen in Cleary Gottlieb’s ‘Time for Creativity’ show garden.

striped garden furniture — *This striped swinging chair from* *ODD Limited* *is the ultimate reading nook!*

Make the Most of pots and containers

If you have a small space or a patio, Chelsea was full of ideas on how to display plants in containers. I particularly enjoyed Sanderson’s display of multiple terracotta pots coupled together tightly and displayed on a raised table, and I also saw metal containers bursting with blooms (and even a halved barrel that could be potted up with border plants).