Chelsea Flower Show: Brambles, nettles and £30 dandelions on display

The Chelsea weed show! Brambles, nettles and £30 dandelions are on display as garden designers go wild

• Brambles, nettles, dandelions have taken centre stage at Chelsea Flower Show
• Plants that many would want to get rid of can cost more than the likes of roses 

For most gardeners dandelions, nettles and brambles are something of a nuisance.

But not at the Chelsea Flower Show – where they appear to have taken centre stage.

A third of the show’s gardens feature plants that have traditionally been viewed as undesirable interlopers. The trend that saw a ‘rewilding garden’ win the coveted best in show medal last year shows no sign of subsiding.

However, making a garden look unkempt doesn’t come cheap. Plants that many gardeners would be only too happy to get rid of can cost more than traditional favourites such as roses.

Celebrity garden designer Bunny Guinness earlier this week told the World at One that ‘designer dandelions’ were costing garden designers £30 ‘a clump’.

Cleve West’s Centrepoint Garden (pictured) is one of four out of 12 show gardens using weeds this year

For most gardeners dandelions, nettles and brambles are something of a nuisance but at the Chelsea Flower Show they appear to have taken centre stage. Pictured: Weeds grow between bricks in The Centrepoint Garden

TV presenter and garden designer James Alexander-Sinclair added: ‘Weeds are some of the most difficult plants to grow. Growing nettles is not much fun.’

READ MORE: ‘What’s it like being a royal?’: Adorable moment little girl quizzes Kate at Chelsea Flower Show – as Princess tells her the ‘best part’ about her job and reveals the one everyday task she’s NOT allowed to do 

Ms Guinness, a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time, backed Alan Titchmarsh who has criticised Chelsea for losing touch by pandering to environmentalists who are fixated on rewilding.

Ms Guinness, who was at Chelsea yesterday, told the station’s World at One that she thinks of a weed as a ‘plant growing in the wrong place’.

She said: ‘Although most gardeners obviously love a green environment and appreciate insects and plants that support them, most of us want to produce a garden that we want to be in and really enjoy.’ 

She added: ‘There are some beautifully grown dandelions… that probably cost £30 a pot. I am sure people will be queuing up to buy them.’

She was referring to dandelions on award-winning designer Cleve West’s Centrepoint Garden, which is one of four out of 12 show gardens using weeds this year.

The dandelions were supplied by Mark Straver, of Hampshire’s Hortus Loci nursery. He says Hortus charges £9.99 wholesale for a three-litre pot of dandelions. 

Ms Guinness, who was at Chelsea yesterday, told the station’s World at One that she thinks of a weed as a ‘plant growing in the wrong place’. Pictured: Weeds growing at The Centrepoint Garden

A fallen birch tree is displayed in The Centrepoint Garden designed by Cleve West

The Princess of Wales was spotted at the flower show where she shook hands with a young school pupil as she carried a bouquet of tulips in her other hand during the visit

Nursery Landlife Wildflowers of Boston, Lincolnshire, charges £32 online for a tray of 25 dandelions. Dandelions are among 50 wildflower species in its ‘core range’.

Alan Titchmarsh yesterday stood by his comments on rewilding. A vice-president of the RHS, he has urged judges not to give another rewilding garden the best in show prize, which he said would be horticulture ‘shooting itself in the foot’.

He said: ‘Wildflowers are important to all of us but I want to redress the balance. We have a legacy of hundreds of years of gardening. We are gardeners, so I don’t see why we should be ashamed of that.’

Another eye-opening trend at Chelsea is the introduction of rubble and rusty iron work. Sculptor Catriona Robertson’s installation at Chelsea features pieces of old corrugated iron surrounded by weeds.

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