Simple Elegance – A Traditional English Garden

Hartley Botanic, England’s most historic and respected Glasshouse and Greenhouse manufacturer, will be proudly showcasing four of its beautiful handmade structures (two in brand new colours) at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year. The stand has a design and planting scheme inspired by the English gardens of the Victorian period, a nod to the longevity of Hartley Botanic’s Greenhouses, and a celebration of the era’s opulence and elegance.

Four contrasting structures demonstrate the breadth of choice available to Hartley Botanic customers as part of a range which remains ‘incomparable,’ with a stately Victorian Manor, joined by a Modern Opus Glasshouse, a practical Wisley 8 Grow and Store and a Patio Glasshouse. The 8.146m long and 4.128m wide Victorian Manor is the largest Glasshouse the manufacturer has brought to the flower show, reflecting a trend for larger and grander Victorian-style structures amongst its customers.

The 2024 Hartley Botanic trade stand has been designed by Landscape Architect Rachel Sampson (BA(Hons) Dip. CMLI) and built and planted by Stewart Landscape Construction.

The Victorian Manor Glasshouse in NEW Matt Black – Victorian Range

The largest structure Hartley Botanic has ever brought to RHS Chelsea, the magnificent Victorian Manor Glasshouse has been powder coated in matt black, a NEW custom colour, includes integrated coldframes to the left rear and sits on a dwarf wall of pretty Cotswold stone. The Glasshouse is part of Hartley Botanic’s nostalgic and romantic Victorian range which is the manufacturer’s most popular. There has been an emerging trend for larger structures amongst those choosing a Victorian-style Glasshouse which reflects increased growing ambitions and a greater lifestyle reliance on growing edibles.

The planting and design of the Victorian Manor on the Chelsea stand showcases the pioneering introduction of ‘new’ plants during the Victorian era which were associated with luxury and opulence, as wealthy homeowners bought Glasshouses and filled them with exotic plant collections. The plants on show represent the Victorian era’s most popular, with palms, ferns, exotics and citruses in pots. With its generous size, the Glasshouse can comfortably accommodate both growing and lifestyle uses, and features a dining area separated by an internal partition.

Opus Glasshouse in Dark Bronze - Modern Horticulture Range

The Opus Glasshouse is the most contemporary structure on the stand, with its concealed engineering and its expansive glass-to-ground windows, the Glasshouse maximises both light and architectural styling.

The Opus on the stand is powder coated in dark bronze and filled with colourful orchids. Quintessentially Victorian, the abundance of the orchids’ contrasting colours will be complemented by non-flowering plants such as ferns. Visitors will be afforded a tropical journey through this Glasshouse, as they experience the vibrancy of the orchids on show.

This year’s stand celebrates the beautifully inspiring English gardens of the Victorian era, a period of gardening history known for its opulence and for helping to establish gardening ‘under glass.’ The design reflects simple elegance, through a minimal material palette, that is surrounded by an abundance of flowers. Romanticising traditional English Gardens, the planting will be full, spilling over paths and showcasing rich displays of colour. The structural simplicity of the design scheme incorporates a formal hedge, topiary, two feature multi stem trees and paths leading into each of the Glasshouses. Withstanding the test of time, the Hartley Botanic structures celebrate the elegant longevity of this era, mimicking the Victorian style of rich, dark tones through the Glasshouse frame colours.

The planting will be characteristic of a cottage garden with elegant and timeless roses, spires of digitalis, phlomis and iris poking through an abundance of cascading layers of colour and texture from plants such as geraniums, astrantia, phlox and salvia.