It’s always tricky to decide which are the key plants at the Chelsea Flower Show because there are literally thousands on display.
But it did appear that purple and blue were favoured for flower and foliage colours with sprinklings of white, particularly white flowers of lychnis and ragged robin flowers.
Irises are always a popular pick by designers along with verbascum and alliums with a splattering of angelica and cow parsley.
Here are a few hot plant items and displays that caught my eye.
Rush plants, Restios, members of the Restionaceae family, appear to be growing in popularity. We saw them in Irish gardens and here at Chelsea, there was a superb display featuring all sorts of species and cultivars.
Scadoxus multiflorus made a stunning impression. This is a bulbous plant that is native to Africa from Senegal to Somalia and parts of South Africa. It is also found in the Seychelles and is naturalized in Mexico.
Zantedeschia. There was a dazzling display of these but the ones everyone was talking about were the black purple ones like Black Art.
Clematis Green Passion is the most talked about new clematis at Chelsea. It has a double all green flower head and grows 6 to 8 feet high and flowers twice, once in May-June and again in August-September, and is said to be very hardy.
This cactus display stopped everyone in their tracks and made them think of an irresistible dessert tray.
This display of miniature hostas caused a stir. Few people had seen so many miniatures gathered in one spot and presented in such a dramatic, theatrical way.
Clematis Taiga was the next most talked-about clematis. Apparently, the hybridizer in Japan died before he was able to see it introduced.
Mulberry Charlotte Russe. The RHS named this their top plant of 2017 and the plant of the show mainly because of its dwarf nature and ability to still produce a bounty of fruit.
Salvia Crystal Blue. This was named the 2nd best plant in the show, which is still a very high recommendation.
There are also amazingly colourful displays at Chelsea and the one, featuring chrysanthemums turned into gigantic balls, was one of the most popular.
Alpine trough plants were given a boost in an exciting display featuring troughs of all sizes packed with a rich selection of alpines.
Lychnis flos-cuculi White Robin. This was used throughout the show in many of the display gardens as well as heavily featured in nursery displays.
Asparagus pea. This was one of the more unusual vegetables featured in a dramatic display of veggies.
Caigua (prickly cucumber). This was another unusual vegetable featured. Apparently, the prickles are not sharp and this vegetable goes well with cream cheese.
Blue waves of clematis created by Raymond Evison, the king of clematis growing in the UK.
