Good enough to eat!

As the Chelsea Flower Show gets under way, we reveal one of the top trends from members of the Society of Garden Designers – edible gardens.

Evident in gardens large and small this year is a trend for incorporating edibles into floral displays. Tom Massey uses herbs, cleverly displayed on a planted-up building block wall, and exotic fruit trees – including lemons, a pomegranate and a fig – in his Middle Eastern-inspired garden.

Kate Savill and Tamara Bridge use plants that feature as flavourings in Warner Edwards Gin including rhubarb and juniper and Tony Woods MSGD features a living wall of edible flowers, herbs, salad and soft fruit (top image).

Elsewhere, the Seedlip Garden by Catherine MacDonald (below) celebrates the humble pea, featuring the common garden pea at the centre of her design alongside more unusual varieties.

Chelsea Flower Show Flowers Rhubarb

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About the author

Steve Ott

Steve Ott is editor of Kitchen Garden magazine and started his career as a professional grower, producing everything from cut flowers to vegetables. He has been growing fruit and veg all his life and spends most of his spare time in his garden in the East Midlands. He loves to experiment with crops and varieties he has never grown before and when he isn’t gardening is to be found out in the countryside bird watching and walking his dog Ted.