So which flowers are top of the gardening pops?

By Carole Davies - 10/07/2008

As you stroll through the perfect show gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show you get a growing sense of suspicion that certain plants are cropping up in garden after garden.

This is a phenomenon that happens every year. Amazing! Exhibitors have no idea what others are planning to include until a few weeks before - and well and truly after the designs have been accepted by the RHS, after which plans may not be altered one jot. Not if the exhibitors want to win a medal anyway.

Like the catwalk fashion shows dictating what will be passed into the high street stores each year, so Chelsea is with plants. The most popular will be in demand at garden centres who, if worth their salt, will go out of their way to ensure that they are stocking the current “must have” plants.  

Colours too, come into and out of fashion. Purple has been in strong evidenace for two or three years now, followed closely by blue and white.

So here, for those of you who want to stay “with it” is my hit parade of plants in evidence at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, some making a welcome return to the charts, having been in an horticultural backwater for years. (I’ll try not to sound too much like Fluff Freeman.)

Still at number one for its continued popularity is the Allium in all its varieties. White as much in evidence as purple.

At number two, Irises – mainly blue.

Acanthus comes in at number three - possibly better known as Bear’s Breeches (don’t even ask) - an herbaceous perennial with large, architectural, glossy leaves from which tall stems bearing flowers rise in muted aubergine shades.  

At four, Veronica - pretty, though not showy, perfect for old-fashioned cottage garden styling but this year used in modern block planting. Blue seemed to be a favourite colour in many gardens.  

Five, Astrantia Major “Shaggy”. In vogue at Chelsea for a number of years, often thought of as a cottage plant, this delightful little number can soften the hardest edges.

Back in at six, Achillea appearing in a few gardens for its splash of yellow - although it is of course available in cerise and white. Another herbaceous plant usually used in softer schemes.

Seven, Lupins. Appeared in several gardens in many shades, definitely a welcome return of a very traditional herbaceous plant.

And at number eight, Paeonies. Used in the “Best in Show” winning garden by Tom Stuart Smith for Laurent Perrier, planted for maximum impact using white specimens only. Included in the plant list were: Paeonia lactiflora “Jan van Leeuwen”, Paeonia lactiflora “White Wings” and Paeonia lactiflora “Krinkled White”. In an otherwise all green garden these big, blousy plants used sparingly added highly effective contrast.  
Paeonies were used in a somewhat more lavish way in Shao Ïan’s “I Dream, I seek my Garden” where a whole bank was planted with this voluptuous little number.  Paeony “High Noon” featured. Personally I loved this garden and consider it my “best in show”.

At number nine, the colour green. Many gardens this year relied heavily on different shades of green with foliage shape and texture providing interest. Personally I really enjoy the tranquillity of green gardens. Planting included my old favourites - grasses, ferns, Hornbeam and Box.

Last but certainly not least in the hit parade - Åcanthus, a stunning architectural herbaceous perennial with large glossy leaves bearing spikes of lavender flowers. Both the Acanthus “spinosa” and “mollis” bear similar flowers but the foliage on mollis is more softly edged than the aptly named “spinosa” leaf.

So those are my top tips for the charts pop pickers – or should I say “plant pickers”?