May kicks off a whole summer of garden and flower shows starting with probably the best known and most widely viewed, the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show.  Who knows exactly what new designs and trends will be revealed this year but the main show gardens have certainly changed since my first visit about 35 years ago.  My flower show dream? Not an ambition to exhibit a garden, just a desire to see gardens that are the epitome of design and build quality but are also gardens that the rest of us would like to have at home. And for me, this harks back to those early visits to Chelsea when I could take direct inspiration as well admiration in the “superb garden creation but not one that would be practical at home” category.  And it also needs a 21st century understanding of the purpose of domestic gardens.

Firstly, to embrace fully the value of gardens for wellbeing. Recent years have seen gardens promoting wellbeing but too many are passive calming gardens – blue, white, green, still water and a seat for contemplation.  Captivatingly beautiful and immediately attractive to show visitors but such a missed opportunity to widen public understanding of the many other ways that gardens benefit people. It is absolutely true that 10 minutes sitting in your garden reduces stress by depressing cortisol and boosts your mood by increasing natural serotonin and dopamine.  This seems to be an automatic response to a safe green space; it does not have to be a garden specifically and solely designed for that purpose.  More importantly, for many people, a garden provides much more active therapy. bright, uplifting colours, a space to socialise and reduce isolation, a sense of success and achievement growing flowers or vegetables, boosting self-esteem and confidence. The Wellbeing Garden is not a separate, beautifully crafted space but exists as an integral part of whatever patch of green we have outside our door.

We also now understand how nature connectedness improves our sense of wellbeing, that feeling of being part of the natural system and not separate from it.  It is hard to deny that seeing birds and butterflies in the garden adds a whole other level of enjoyment.  So my second desire is to see planet friendly gardening, no peat, no pesticides and ample support for local wildlife.  Gardens, even small ones, are invaluable for wildlife as havens supporting creatures in extremes of cold, heat and drought and as green corridors, stepping stones to link populations and allow wildlife to traverse built up areas.

And just like with wellbeing it is easy to be drawn into the outdated stereotype of a wildlife friendly garden as a replica of the surrounding countryside, populated exclusively with native plants or just abandoned. This latter does not result in the curated rewilded garden of shows and articles but in the most rampant plants taking over, frequently damaging the eco-system like Himalayan Balsam along river banks.  The reality is that a domestic garden, well suited to people to entertain, sit, play and grow vegetables, fruit and flowers, will also be harbouring wildlife no matter that the lawn is mown and the paths are straight.

So where does all this leave my dream show garden? A truly 21st century garden, one that shows how the beautiful garden that we all aspire to, that is practical to create and maintain at home also benefits our own and our planet’s wellbeing.  And there is no fixed template for either: Wellbeing and Well-planet Gardens appear in any style or size.  What matters is that we make both of these completely normal attributes and where better to raise awareness that at a flower show?

Happy Gardening from Alison