Some of these dainty lovelies were even surrounded by lavish gold frames, and they looked as pretty as a picture. W & S Lockyer is the holder of the National Collection of double-flowered auriculas, and although the season for these spring flowers is at an end, the whole display was skilfully delayed to be at its peak for Chelsea. These charming, colourful and bright-as-a-button spring flowers were displayed in a traditional auricula theatre, a dramatic black backdrop against which the colours simply sang.

The display of auriculas by W & S Lockyer in the Great Pavilion had to lift the spirits of any footsore Chelsea visitor happening upon it. W & S Lockyer, auricula specialist, Great Pavilion You can read more about this garden in our Journal. Congratulations to Tom Massey and his team on this beautiful silver gilt medal-winning garden. And a vertical garden for food and herbs, crafted in recycled materials, showed the resourcefulness of gardeners creating a productive space from very little. Exotic planting transported the visitor to a different world, under a hotter sun, but more familiar garden favourites also featured, a reminder of how creating a garden can bring solace, even in the most desperate of circumstances. Inspired by the gardens created by Syrian refugees in Domiz camp in northern Iraq, it included many features typical of Islamic gardens: fruit trees, cooling rills, a trickling fountain, a shady pavilion. This beautiful show garden stood right opposite our stand on Main Avenue, telling a poignant story of the resilience, optimism and ingenuity of people displaced from their homes. So, looking back at that magical week we spent in the grounds of the famous Royal Hospital, in no particular order, here are five of our favourite things from RHS Chelsea 2018. The sights, the scents, the sounds… It’s such a sensory overload, in fact, that it’s only when the show is over, and the dust has settled, that you start to appreciate some of the truly extraordinary things you‘ve seen sights that will linger long in the memory. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show presents the visitor with a true feast for the senses.

Victorian auricula theatre