Even on a rainy day, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is still brimming with colour – but this year, one bold planting combination stands out above the rest.
Yellow and purple flowers can be spotted everywhere, from balcony gardens to the show gardens on Main Avenue. The colour duo appear in The Tate Britain Garden, Trussell’s Together Garden, The Sightsavers Garden and more, cementing its status as one of Chelsea’s defining planting trends.
As complementary colours on the colour wheel, yellow and purple naturally intensify one another, helping borders and containers feel brighter, bolder and more visually striking.
In the Trussell’s Together Garden, designed by Rob Hardy & Co, we see yellow Verbascum 'Clementine' paired with violet salvias to create a vibrant, high-contrast display.
We ask garden designer Rob why purple and yellow planting continue to dominate at Chelsea. 'Being complementary colours, they really pop against each other,' Rob tells us.
'So many people say "I don't like yellow," but I love it. It's one of my favourite colours. I think it's uplifting, it's joyous. And that deep salvia works well, but it only works well because it's in contrast with a yellow.'
A similar palette can also be seen at The Boodles Garden, designed by Catherine MacDonald, where rich purple tones are woven through soft yellow planting. Asked about the appeal of purple this year, Mel Reynard, assistant landscape designer, says the shade offers a fresh alternative to blue planting schemes, which have long dominated garden design trends.
'It's very rich – it's also very warm,' Mel explains. 'Blues can be quite cold so I think purple marries the red and blues and warms things up a bit.'
The purple-and-yellow trend is not just confined to the show gardens either. At A Little Garden of Shared Knowledge, sponsored by Viking, the gold medal-winning balcony garden designed by Katerina Kantalis also features a softer, more understated mix of the two shades.
'I think yellow is such an underrated colour,' Katerina tells us. 'Everyone has a real fear of yellow, but actually, when you start looking at it, it's really quite pretty.' Katerina says yellow can work beautifully as a softer alternative to white in planting schemes, with white flowers sometimes appearing too stark by comparison.
The dominance of yellow and purple planting marks a continuation of the colour trends seen at last year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. According to both Rob and Katerina, the popularity of the two shades is also partly driven by the plants naturally available at this time of year.
So, if you're looking to give your garden a seasonal refresh inspired by RHS Chelsea, now could be the perfect time to introduce more purple and yellow planting. The complementary colour pairing is an easy way to create a garden that feels vibrant, uplifting and effortlessly in tune with this year’s biggest Chelsea trend.
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