As summer approaches, gardening season is also bursting into full swing as the grande dame of the gardening world, the Chelsea Flower Show and her exuberant little sister, the Chelsea Fringe, return to London this month.
Although only in its third year, the Fringe will host a heady mix of over 200 public spectacles, horticultural happenings and community celebrations in and around London, as well as as far afield as Brighton, Bristol, Glasgow, Vienna and even Ljubjlana.
The Fringe runs from 17 May – 8 June. Here are a few of the highlights tickling our fancy:
GROW YOUR OWN VERTICAL GARDEN
20 May
6:30pm - 8:30pm
The Athenaeum Hotel is home to one of London’s first vertical gardens - an impressive 10-storey green wall designed by Patrick Blanc. It is also one of London’s most diverse living walls, featuring a glorious fusion of yucca, lavender, jasmine, fuschia, rosemary, junipers, mosses and self-seeded wild flowers.
Which makes it the perfect setting for a vertical gardening talk with Daniel Bell, who first brought the concept to London. Daniel will guide you through the basics of starting your own green wall, sharing his passion for biodiversity whilst you enjoy the discussion sipping on an exclusive gin cocktail inspired by the botanicals from the hotel’s wall.
£15
THE FLOWER THEATRE
Recurring event from 17 May
Petersham Nursuries (whose horticultural manager Tom Broom is giving a talk at GROW London) has been inspired by Victorian auricular theatres in this novel floral ‘peep show’. Enter the darkened booth and press the button to see a marvellous display of flowers revealed as never before.
HIDDEN GARDEN ART SHOW
Recurring event from 24 May
The smallest outdoor sculpture gallery in the UK, the lush little private garden of the Maureen Michaelson Gallery is living proof that sculpture can enhance even the tiniest spaces. Drop in to see how to it can complement the natural beauty of your shrubbery, with an added element of surprise, humour, or wonder!
THE HANGING HERB GARDEN OF FENTON HOUSE
Recurring event from 17 May
Spend a sunny afternoon enjoying the gardens of Fenton House, just a stone’s throw from the GROW fair site. There are formal walks to wander, a beautiful sunken rose garden to admire, a kitchen garden to marvel at and, tucked away in the apple orchard, a unique display of hanging herbs to surprise and delight the senses.
£2
THE GUERRILLA GARDENER’S RIVER OF FLOWERS WALK FROM LAMBETH NORTH TO THE ELEPHANT
18 May
11am – 12.30pm
Proving you don’t have to have a garden to be a gardener, Richard Reynolds, author of On Guerrilla Gardening, will lead you along a one mile stretch of guerrilla gardens between Lambeth North tube station and Elephant & Castle. En route, he’ll recount the stories of these renegade creations and the different approaches taken to public gardening without permission.
SHOWS OF HANDS
Recurring event from 17 May
This project moves the act of gardening into the virtual sphere. Hosted on Michelle Chapman’s blog, Veg Plotting, it is a celebration of the gardener’s most precious tool – their hands.
Anyone can participate by sharing photos of their green fingers in action - the muckier, the better! At the end of project, Michelle will create a clickable Google Map (and possibly a collage) showing the locations of everyone who took part.