Family inspiration at the Chelsea Flower Show

The gardening event of the year goes onwards and upwards as editor Catherine Hanly looks at some of the best gardens to inspire parents this year.

Gardening goes up the wall
If there was one prevailing theme at this year's Chelsea Flower Show it was going green. And by that, I mean not only conserving water, and planting according to the new, hotter climate we have – but in turning everything green as well from walls to roofs.

I was at the press day of the Chelsea Flower show to see two gardens which took inspiration from children and hoped to inspire parents in turn. This was my first visit to the show, but I've been a compulsive viewer for many years – wrestling the TV remote from my husband's hands as the BBC team brought sofa gardeners like myself a taste of what could be done if you have time, money and inspiration.

The scent of thousands of flowers hung heavy in the air at the showground just off the embankment at Chelsea this morning as more than a thousand journalists, the Royal Horticultural Show judges and a serious sprinkling of celebrities arrived to see what the cream of garden designers had come up with this year.

My first visit was to the Marshalls garden – one of the main show gardens. Entitled The Garden That Kids Really Want, the garden was inspired by children from all over the country who took part in a series of school workshops to find out what children wanted from a garden. The garden features a tunnel, huge stone serpent and a timber Orb as a the perfect den. Adventure, exploration and danger were the themes which informed designer Ian Dexter's work.

Next up was the Children's Society Garden – one of the show's urban gardens created by designer Mark Gregory. This featured plants growing up the outside wall as well as some clever bike racks for active families who are short on space. 'The trend at the moment is for vertical planting,' Gregory told me, 'so I've reflected that in the vertical bike racks I had designed specially for the garden and in the vertical planting you can see here.' He said he wanted parents to be inspired by what could be done in a small place. 'English front gardens are usually so awful,' he said. This shows what can be done in a small place as long as it's kept uncluttered.'

Finally, one of this year's Chelsea must-haves for kids must surely be a playhouse from the Flights of Fantasy. Sadly with prices for a pint-sized Tudor cottage starting at £25,000 this was only going to be something that footballers' families or the kids of London-based oligarchs were going to have in their back gardens. But it was nice to dream.

See our Chelsea Flower Show gallery by clicking here.

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