You're never far from inspiration within the grand grounds of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. From emerging colour combinations to popular plants set to define outdoor spaces, every display, flower, exhibitor stand and even the passing outfits offer something worth taking home with you.
And if there's one thing we spotted everywhere at this year's show, it's easy, fast-growing plants that will add colour and interest to your garden in no time. Take a look at three of our favourites:
1. Oxeye daisies
Pretty oxeye daisies are impressively fast growers. When grown from seed (one of the best money-saving options), they can germinate in just 10-30 days, establishing their root network quickly before bursting open into glorious flower.
At this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show, The Bat Conservation Trust's Nocturnal Garden planted oxeye daisies among other easy-to-grow plants that may once have been considered weeds. Their delicate white flowerheads added to the beautiful, naturalistic feel designer Melanie Hick wanted to achieve.
Meanwhile, the Country Living team also spotted oxeye daisies inside the Great Pavilion and in containers across many exhibitor stands. Why not grow this fast-growing plant in your own garden for a low-cost Chelsea look?
2. Cow parsley
"Cow parsley is a brilliant plant to work with because it really doesn't ask for much," says Baz Grainger, designer of the Killik & Co 'A Seed in Time' Garden, where cow parsley was one of the unexpected hero plants.
"It's happy in semi-shade, copes with most soils, and once it settles in, it tends to find its own way. You do have to be comfortable letting it do its thing a bit. That's very much the spirit of the whole garden, really — a restrained palette and strong structure, but with softer planting weaving through it in a much looser, more natural way. It’s less about trying to control every inch, and more about working with nature, and cow parsley sums that up beautifully."
Elsewhere at Chelsea, cow parsley also added a whimsical feel to Sarah Eberle's The Campaign to Protect Rural England Garden: 'On the Edge', which was designed to shine a light on often-forgotten spaces.
Speaking about the plant and why it was chosen, Sarah told Country Living: "Cow parsley is something everyone can connect to, it's on our verges and edgelands around the UK."
3. Chives
Chives, with their beautiful cluster of tiny star-shaped petals, are the cornerstone of soups and summer salads. But they were also key features in Show and Container Gardens at this year's famous flower show.
In The Eden Project: Bring Me Sunshine Garden, purple chives were seen standing tall in borders along with textural grasses and Salix exigua willow to evoke a coastal meadow combining resilience with a soft, naturalistic feel.
Chives also had a moment at The Sightsavers Garden: We Start With Sight, But We Don’t Stop There Garden. The designers praised the plant for being pollinator-friendly, edible and easily self-seeding into cracks and crevices.
These fast growers will generally sprout within 7 to 20 days, and are ready for their first harvests within around 60 days. Top tip: treat them as cut-and-come-again herbs, snipping regularly to promote regrowth.
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Lisa Joyner is the Deputy Daily Editor at House Beautiful UK and Country Living UK, where she's busy writing about home and interiors, gardening, dog breeds, pets, health and wellbeing, countryside news, small space inspiration, and the hottest properties on the market. Previously, she has written for Conde Nast Traveller, House & Garden and Marie Claire magazine. Lisa studied at University For The Creative Arts, where she completed a BA in Fashion Journalism.
