The Colourful Collision of Interior and Garden Design at Chelsea 2025
But…is it all just a tad similar?
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Today I’m going to concentrate on the influence of interior design in the garden. As a 50/50 lover of both the home and garden, hence my newsletter title HOME & HORT, I was delighted to notice just how many of the gardens and stands had finally mixed real garden living with nature.
The use of interior style outside was everywhere this year, celebrating the people that actually use these gardens, because what is a garden for if not to share it with others, make memories, nurture our souls and relax in its beauty?
But, first my thoughts on colour. Much has been written this week about the welcome return of colour and maximalism at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show ‘25. So much so that I can almost feel the beige lovers, Scandi minimalists and yellow-haters cowering behind their off-white boucle garden sofas, and I feel a little bit sorry for them.
White on green palettes have been unapologetically cancelled for vibrant purples, boozy rich-red wine burgundy, abundantly romantic pinks clashing with sunset orange and rapeseed field yellow. It’s a joyful feast for the senses. I have to say it is very much welcome as the last few years have been decidedly vanilla, and that’s coming from someone who veers on the cool side of the colour wheel. But, the one thing that does slightly aggravate me about Chelsea is that it’s very often all or nothing. It’s as if Director General Clare Matterson sends a memo out saying: “Please use a colour palette of…”
The only three garden designers that I think didn’t get the memo are
for The Glasshouse Garden (see my interview with her here), who it seems to me doesn’t follow trends at all, and is perfectly confident in her romantic signature style; Kazuyuki Ishihara for Cha no Niwa Japanese Tea Garden (my video of his garden is within the paywalled part of this post), who’s astonishing attention to detail, and timeless use of water, rugged stone, moss, Acer and purple irises never waivers; and Dr Catherine Macdonald’s Boodles Raindance Garden, which celebrates the 25th anniversary of the ‘Raindance’ jewellery with a complimentary colour palette of fern green, white and soft pink.
The same thing seems to be happening in the interior world. Wherever I look it’s a flood of brightly coloured stripes, clashing opposites and a myriad of pattern. I love it and it’s great to see such exuberant confidence in design.
But, I would also like to be able to walk down the high street and be surprised by the polar opposite. It’s as though calming neutrals and pastel pleasure was secretly banned by the design glitterati a year or so ago. God forbid you should be looking for an off-white cushion at the moment. You might have to make it yourself.
What I would really love to see at Chelsea ‘26 is a maturity of eclectic style and taste. Rather than a cacophony of the same trend-led design, perhaps something for everyone? A celebration of all that is possible in your garden. A place where muted simplicity has as much right to be there as the kaleidoscope of colour we see this year.
In a world that is becoming increasingly self-absorbed and blinkered, where everyone thinks their opinion is the right one and where harmony and peace seem to be unnervingly missing, perhaps it’s time that we all enjoyed a more inclusive and varied Chelsea?
Don’t get me wrong though, it was a brilliant year, despite fewer gardens, and there was a hell of a lot of inspiration that we can take home and recreate in our own gardens. Here’s what caught my eye:
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