12 highlights from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2019

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2019 may be over for another year but there were so many highlights from this year's show. Here we've rounded up some of the best...

Part of the fun of Chelsea is the press/VIP Day where the celebrities are out in force to get a first look at the gardens. Joanna Lumley, Dame Judi Dench, Kirstie Allsopp, Christopher Biggins, Nigel Havers, Joan Collins, George Lamb (the list goes on!) were just some of the celebs on the day. Much-loved chef and TV presenter Ainsley Harriott was also in attendance, and he snapped this selfie with one of the models...

Every show sees new plants and a 20-strong Plant of the Year shortlist. The winning plant went to the low maintenance Sedum Atlantis, but another plant caught our eye – mainly due to its striking sunset shade of orange with a purple centre – the vibrant African Daisy plant, Osteospermum Purple Sun. And, everyone on Instagram fell in love with it too.

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Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge co-designed the RHS Back to Nature Garden with Andrée Davies and Adam White. In what was her garden design debut, the Duchess was very hands on throughout and even enlisted her children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis to help decorate the garden.

Gardeners' World star and RHS Chelsea presenter Monty Don said interviewing Kate was a highlight: 'I think [she] has impressed everybody with her commitment, her involvement and the sort of earnestness without being solemn about the whole thing, and I think that was wonderful.

'It's always good to talk to somebody who's passionate about what they're doing, and it doesn't matter whether you're a duchess or not, it's wonderful.'

It was another successful year for Mark Gregory who was back with his second Welcome to Yorkshire Garden. After 2018's showstopper the biggest question was: can he do it again? Well, he did. Not only did Mark win a Gold medal but he scooped the People's Choice Award for the second consecutive year.

And thoughts are already turning to next year, which will be Mark's 100th garden at Chelsea...

Yes, anything can happen at the Chelsea Flower Show and Mark Gregory's Welcome to Yorkshire Garden provided the setting for a romantic wedding proposal.

Adam Baylis-West approached Peter Dodd, Commercial director of Welcome to Yorkshire, and asked if he could bring his girlfriend Rosemary onto the garden as it was her favourite. Peter brought them on and Adam got down on one knee and proposed on the lock gate. Congratulations to the happy couple!

CAMFED, the Campaign for Female Education, made their debut this year with a garden at Chelsea – and it was spectacular. Visiting the show on Press Day, this garden stood out for us, instantly transporting all visitors to a corner of rural Zimbabwe.

Designed by Jilayne Rickards, the garden featured vibrant colours and bold foliage, along with trees, crops, bulbs, red soil and rocks typical of the Zimbabwean landscape, and an outdoor learning space. The garden was awarded a Gold medal and the People's Choice Award for Best Space to Grow Garden - congratulations!

The Normandy veterans’ charity D-Day Revisited created a commemorative garden installation to mark the 75th anniversary of 6th June 1944 D-Day Landings, the largest seaborne invasion in world history. Designed by John Everiss, the striking D-Day 75 Garden aimed to celebrate living veterans, as well as respectfully remember those they left behind in Normandy.

The Donkey Sanctuary: Donkeys Matter had some very special visitors on press/VIP Day – donkeys, and even Joanna Lumley posed for a photo with one of the stars.

The garden, which won the People's Choice Award for Best Artisan Garden, is designed to showcase the charity’s international work and demonstrates how owning a donkey means access to clean, fresh water for some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the world.

Wallgarden.co displayed their bespoke children's playhouses at Chelsea – and we fell in love with it. Masterminded by designer Nadine Charlton, these miniature houses are a dream. Chef Dhruv Baker was also a fan!

The McQueens Flowers Per Oculus Apum installation – meaning Through the Eyes of Bees – was spectacular. The 20m long by 7m wide tunnel was an immersive installation that focused on glorious wild, organic bee-friendly flowers with an upside-down lavender field, with the display evocative of how bees see flowers in ultra-violet (UV).

Andy Sturgeon's M&G Garden won Gold and Best Show Garden, and the judges called it 'perfection'.

RHS judge James Alexander-Sinclair said: 'We seldom have the pleasure of judging perfection but in this case, Andy Sturgeon’s garden did not disappoint. The garden delighted designers, thrilled landscapers and perked up the plants people to no end.'