If there's one thing the RHS Chelsea Flower Show reliably delivers, it's spectacular gardens bursting with colour.
But while each design has its own distinct character, certain shades and planting combinations feature again and again across the show grounds.
We got an early look at this year's show gardens on press day, and these are the colours we came across time and time again...
Orange and purple/blue
Orange and purple is the unofficial pairing of the year, featuring in the pavilion and gardens big and small, from the RHS and The King's Trust Curious Garden to the small container and balcony gardens.
"It was like a hive mind. No one was talking about it but then everyone did it," Rebecca Lloyd Jones, designer of The Transient Garden, a balcony garden, tells us.
Her space features orange and purple very prominently, with eschscholzia californica ‘Orange King’ as a key plant, as a way to stand out against the greys and blues of the sky you gaze out upon while sitting on your balcony.
Key orange plants:
- Eschscholzia californica ‘Orange King’
- Cosmos
- Marigolds
Key blue/purple plants:
- Allium
- Salvia varieties
- Delphinium
Pale shades of yellow, blue and pink
This year's floral showcase was also rife with extremely light versions of classic colours, including yellow (is butter yellow making its way into the plant world?), blue and pink.
A standout flower can be found in the Parkinson's UK garden: a pink tulip so pale, it almost appears white at first glance.
Another delicately coloured variety is the latest shrub rose bred by David Austin. The 'Sir David Beckham' rose is characterised by medium-sized blooms with cupped petals that open from soft white with just a hint of yellow to clear white.
David Austin Sir David Beckham
Pale blues and pinks also feature prominently in the Lady Garden Foundation 'Silent No More' garden, with delicately-hued rock roses, and the Children's Society Garden, with soft yellow irises and blush pink foxgloves.
Key plants:
- Iris ‘Butter and Sugar’
- Sir David Beckham rose
- Cistus creticus
White and pink/red
This classic romantic combination of soft and vibrant appeared in various gardens, chief among them that of the Lady Garden Foundation, where pink and white made up the majority of the colour palette.
A beautiful pairing of red and white can be admired in the Boodles Garden – one of the smaller show gardens – where a frothy cow parsley variety complements the blowsy petals of a scarlet-red peony.
Key red/pink plants:
- Paeonia 'Buckeye Belle'
- Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna pink’
Key white plants:
- Anthriscus sylvestris ‘Ravenswing’
- Olearia macrodonta
- Oxeye daisy
Wanda Sachs is the Multiplatform Writer for Country Living and House Beautiful, exploring the latest in gardening, wildlife and sustainable living alongside interiors and property. She is particularly interested in human-interest stories, the intersection of design and pop culture, and the evolving relationship between urban and rural life. Previously, she served as Associate Editor at The Berliner in Berlin, where she reported on culture and fashion. Wanda studied English and German at the Goethe University Frankfurt and Exeter University.
