Small space gardening has been championed at this year's Chelsea Flower Show with a brand new category – Balcony Gardens.
Providing some great inspiration for city dwellers, a prominent theme of this new category is how to turn a balcony into a calming space to escape and relax. It's the perfect time to highlight this small outdoor space, as balconies have been a lifeline for thousands over the course of the pandemic.
Promoting the benefits of plants for our health and the environment, the balcony designs have provided inspiration on how to use an abundance of plants and vegetation to create a sense of being immersed in nature.
Unlike the Show Gardens, the balconies are not judged, therefore no medals are awarded for these designs, but it's a great new – and welcome – addition to the show.
Drought-tolerant, pollinator-friendly planting and seasonal favourites like berries, seed-heads and dahlias are on display throughout the five balcony gardens. There's also lush evergreens interspersed with rainbow colours, along with herbs, chillies, fruit trees and other edibles.
The gardens have been designed by first time RHS Chelsea Flower Show designers, and there are some great take-home ideas on how to design your balcony sustainably and support wildlife.
See the Balcony Gardens up close...
The Green Sky Pocket Garden by James Smith is an oasis away from busy city life. Almost every inch of the balcony is used for growing, with low-growing plants filling gaps between paving slabs and window boxes on the balcony edge.
Martha Krempel's Arcadia garden features subtropical planting and an idyllic painted backdrop, plus a hanging swing seat suspended from a pergola. Arcadia offers pure escape, with the aged door becoming a portal between reality and fantasy.
Designed for contemplation and relaxation, Michael Coley's Sky Sanctuary uses a colour scheme of soft pastels and greens. The planting, which includes anemones, Geranium Rozanne and a hardy ginger, is designed for a north-east facing balcony.
Balcony of Blooms is designed by Alexandra Noble who is known for using planting schemes to support biodiversity. The garden features blooms for pollinators and culinary herbs and aims to show how small spaces can be productive, practical and enchanting.
The Landform Balcony Garden designed by Nicola Hale is dominated by a yellow and purple colour scheme; the two colours that are most attractive to bees. Nicola hopes visitors will be inspired to add habitat to the wildlife corridors in UK cities.
Follow House Beautiful on Instagram.
21 great gardening books for tips on plants, design and wellbeing
Gardener’s World: How I Garden: Easy ideas & inspiration for making beautiful gardens anywhere
Adam Frost's practical, no-nonsense approach will help you plan and build a garden that works for you. The Gardeners' World presenter takes you step by step through the whole process, whether you have a window box or a charming veg patch.
Struggling to keep your houseplants alive? Wondering why leaves are turning yellow? This is the book for you. Sarah, also known as @theplantrescuer, is a self-taught houseplant obsessive who fills each page with her top tips on how to revive wilting plants. It has been described as a book to 'help your plants not only survive but thrive'.
Gardening for Mind, Body and Soul: How to Nurture Your Well-Being with Nature
Gardening for Mind, Body and Soul celebrates the benefits of gardening — and how nature can boost our wellbeing. Highlights include learning about birdsong, exploring which plants release scents to soothe the mind, and how we can all promote feelings of balance and calm.
The Modern Gardener: A practical guide to gardening creatively, productively and sustainably
Slip on your gardening gloves...Francis Tophill's book is packed with everything the modern gardener needs. You'll find plant advice, plant-based recipes, and tips on how to reduce your carbon footprint. Create a space that looks beautiful and attracts wildlife.
The National Trust GROW: Fill your world with plants (National Trust)
Whether you want to create a mini wildflower meadow or make the most of your houseplants, this beautifully illustrated book from the National Trust is a fresh take on gardening. Plant lovers, this one is for you...
Nancy Birtwhistle's The Green Gardening Handbook does what it says on the tin. Featuring over 100 tips to help you grow with confidence, chapters include composting, seasonal recipes, guides to freezing, storing and preserving, and basic gardening equipment. It also features clever tips that will help you save money and reduce waste at home.
Modern Container Gardening: How to Create a Stylish Small-Space Garden Anywhere
Isabelle Palmer shows you how to make the most of every little space with a series of projects for small gardens, singular containers and window boxes, that can be completed in a day or weekend. Perfect for novice gardeners, Modern Container Gardening offers beautiful photography and clear step-by-step instructions.
The National Trust employs over 500 gardeners with an extraordinary wealth of expertise. And now, in this in-depth guide, they pass on their wisdom and provide the answers any new and seasoned gardener is looking for. This book is intended to give you inspiration and confidence to make the most of your garden, without being overwhelmed with unnecessary technical detail.
Veg in One Bed: How to Grow an Abundance of Food in One Raised Bed, Month by Month
Veg In One Bed explains how to build your bed and grow from seed, as well advice on planting, feeding, and harvesting. YouTube gardening star Huw Richards shows how to guarantee early success by starting off young plants on a windowsill and suggests what to grow in each part of the bed.
Create a beautiful wildlife haven at home with the RHS' Little Book of Wild Gardening. Divided into sections for different areas — including lawns, flower beds, edibles, trees and water features – you'll find tips, tricks and helpful ideas for every space.
The Practical House Plant Book by the RHS contains a dozen step-by-step projects to help you assemble an eye-catching terrarium, create a floating kokedama 'string garden', or propagate succulents. Complete with 175 in-depth plant profiles, this is an essential practical guide for indoor gardeners.
A small garden space – an urban patio, a tiny backyard, or even just a pot by your door – doesn't have to sacrifice style. In Small Garden Style, garden designer Isa Hendry Eaton and lifestyle writer Jennifer Blaise Kramer show you how to use good design to create a joyful, elegant, and exciting yet compact outdoor living space.
Charles Dowding's No Dig Gardening: From Weeds to Vegetables Easily and Quickly: Course 1
Charles Dowding, innovator of no dig, teaches you everything you need to know about this method of organic gardening. With 19 chapters, you'll learn how to use no dig on different soil types, recognise and massively reduce the different types of weeds, know the difference between soil and types of compost, and grow an abundance of vegetables using the no dig method.
Get all the inspiration you need for planting cut flowers, and fill your home with colour and the gorgeous scent of the garden year-round with In Bloom. Clare Nolan reveals her secrets for growing a bountiful harvest as well as styling spectacular homegrown displays in this beautifully designed book.
RHS Complete Gardener's Manual
The RHS' Complete Gardener's Manual will help you choose plants that will thrive in your space, design a border for year-round colour, grasp different pruning techniques, discover how to protect your veg patch from pests, and make the best compost.
Do you want to attract more bees, birds, frogs and hedgehogs into your garden? In Wildlife Gardening for Everyone and Everything, Kate Bradbury teams up with the Wildlife Trusts and the RHS to help you discover how you can make your garden, balcony, doorstep or patio a haven for garden wildlife. You'll find handy charts, practical projects and fact files.
Gardener and TV presenter David Domoney is a firm believer that indoor plants can make 'a practical and emotional contribution to our wellbeing'. In this book, David explains the hard science behind the positive effect of the humble houseplant on wellness, and provides expert tips on how to keep your plants thriving, plus shares his top 50 life-enhancing houseplants.
RHS Encyclopedia of Garden Design: Planning, Building and Planting Your Perfect Outdoor Space
If you're looking for new garden ideas, the RHS Encyclopedia of Garden Design will guide you from planning to planting, such as choosing the correct materials for your structures and assessing your drainage, to laying patios, making ponds, and planting perennials.
How to Create an Eco Garden: The practical guide to sustainable and greener gardening
This planet-friendly book is filled with ideas for creating your own eco garden on any scale, from a small courtyard to a large garden or allotment. Discover organic techniques that improve biodiversity, learn the value of using recycled and reclaimed materials for landscaping, and take on simple projects such as making a pond and a wildlife hotel.
Drawing on expert advice from the RHS, this best-selling reference book – organised by colour, size, and type, rather than as an A-Z directory – will help you select the right varieties for your outdoor space.
Joyce and Ben Russell have devised 30 kitchen garden projects, devised to either extend the season, protect crops from pests or improve yields. These projects transform your vegetable plot into somewhere more productive, more attractive and more secure.
