Four gardens inspired by drinks at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show

We round up four gardens that took their inspiration from drinks at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, from the winelands of South Africa’s western cape to a garden planted with bee-friendly botanicals.

The Queen during her annual visit to the Chelsea Flower Show. Image: @RoyalFamily

The medal recipients at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show were announced last night, bringing with it tears of both joy and frustration. While garden designer and TV presenter Chris Beardshaw nabbed the top spot for best show garden, this year was notable for the fact that four gardens took their inspiration from drinks.

Indeed the garden and ‘botanic’ trend is gaining prominence in the drinks industry. While this is, as you might expect, most evident in the gin category, it is starting to creep into both beer and cider.

Royal warrant holder Partridges produces a Chelsea Flower Show gin in collaboration with Martin Murray, the distiller from Rock Rose, which contains 19 botanicals inspired by the show. To name just a few others, there’s Edinburgh’s 1670 gin, a collaboration with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and named after the 1670 Physic Garden, The London Distillery Company’s Kew Gin inspired by the eponymous gardens, The Oxford Artisan Distillery’s Physic Gin inspired by the University of Oxford’s botanic garden and Dyfi’s pollination gin with botanicals including wild flowers, aromatic leaves, fruits and conifer tips – all growing in the UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve surrounding the distillery.

In cider Lyme Bay produces a botanical expression and Rekorderlig has recently released a ‘botanicals range’ while the craze is also gaining prominence in beer, with Tempest’s Are Friends Electric?, a Gose-style beer infused with botanicals including Kaffir lime leaf, lemon peal, Angelica root and bay leaf and produced alongside James Porteous of Electric Spirit Co, being one of the latest examples.

Mixer brand Fever Tree is also getting in on the act, launching a ‘physic garden’ gin pop-up in London and today announcing the launch of Fever-Tree G&T Pub Garden awards.

The two gin brands with gardens at the show, Warner Edwards and Silent Pool, are taking this one step further by creating a physical space that replicates what they are trying to achieve in the bottle.

Returning to the show again this year, non-alcoholic spirit producer Seedlip’s garden expression relies heavily on plants, including handpicked peas and hay from founder Ben Branson’s family farm and traditional herbs including spearmint, rosemary and thyme.

Scroll through to view the drinks-inspired gardens and the medals they received.

The Silent Pool Gin Garden

Surrey distiller Silent Pool’s garden drew inspiration from the brand’s location, aiming to provide a relaxing haven for the city professional.

With blue Meconopsis hinting at the colour of its distinctive bottles, the garden also had a an infinity-edged water feature in reference to the spring-fed ‘Silent Pool’ which gives the distillery its name and provides the water for its gin.

Ian McCulloch, owner of Silent Pool Gin, and Ed Balls enjoy a G&T at Silent Pool Gin Garden. Photo: Adrian Brooks/Imagewise

The materials used in the garden, including handmade dry stone walling, steel water features and timber backdrops, have all been produced in the UK and chosen by Silent Pool Distillers. As well as Portland stone, Purbeck walling and weathered oak, the distilling process is also represented through laser-cut copper panels, copper distillation helmets and a central ‘citrus peel’ sculpture.

Philip Schofield also enjoys a G&T. Photo: Adrian Brooks/Imagewise.

With a colour palette of blues, whites, greens and copper, the garden also contains five of the gin’s 24 botanicals including angelica root, iris and rose.

Medal: Silver Gilt
Designer: David Neale
Construction: Neale Richards Garden Design
Sponsors: Silent Pool Distillers

The Trailfinders South African Wine Estate

Travel company Trailfinders’ garden is inspired by the South African landscape, in particular the winelands of the Western Cape. Including many native species including red hot pokers, agapanthus, gladioli and pelargoniums, the plants are shown growing in their natural environment interspersed with Mediterranean-type shubland.

The gate with the vineyard on the right.

A representation of a traditional wine estate, the garden contains a traditional Cape Dutch homestead with a terracotta-tiled terrace leading to a formal garden, and then to a vineyard. Beyond the vineyard is an interpretation of the wild South African shrubland known as fynbos. There’s even an area which represents a section of recently burned shrubland, with bulbs and sprouting shoots bursting out of the surrounding blackened vegetation.

Medal: Silver Gilt
Designer: Jonathan Snow
Construction: Stewart Landscape Construction
Sponsors: Trailfinders Ltd

The Seedlip Garden

Returning to Chelsea again this year, Seedlip’s garden contains a selection of unusual varieties of sugar snaps and snow peas, a tribute to the late American pea breeder, Dr Calvin Lamborn. There’s a ‘Peavillion’ adorned with edible pea shoots and stepping stones laid out in pea pod design. Embedded into the path surrounding the stones is split pea shingle and pea mulch, with pea pod shaped metal grills laid over it.

Indeed the garden celebrates all things pea, with all species used being from the pea family Fabaceae.

Medal: Gold
Designer: Dr Catherine MacDonald
Construction: Landform Consultants Ltd
Sponsors: Seedlip

The Warner Edwards Garden

Bee-friendly planting dictates affairs at the Warner Edwards Garden, in reference to its Honey Bee gin, part of its botanical garden range. Featuring the likes of strawberries, borage, angelica and flowering hawthorn the garden also includes two traditional straw beehives.

The garden is inspired by Falls Farm in Northamptonshire, the site of the distillery, with a water feature representing the local spring which provides the source of the water used in distillation. With Northamptonshire stone depicting the farm walls and copper referencing the gin stills, the garden is also planted with aromatic thyme and lemon balm for the full sensory experience.

Medal: Silver
Designers: Kate Savill and Tamara Bridge
Construction: Frogheath Landscapes
Sponsors: Warner Edwards