Planting Artfully: Hicks & Hart Bring Botanical Elegance to Our RHS Chelsea Stand

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A Fusion of Nature and Fine Art

At this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Gladwell & Patterson were delighted to collaborate on a beautifully considered planting scheme. Working alongside garden design duo Hicks & Hart, the stand offered a thoughtful exploration of how fine art can inhabit both classical and modern homes with ease and elegance. Hicks & Hart developed a balanced planting scheme that introduced texture, rhythm and softness to the space, all while allowing Gladwell & Patterson's exceptional artworks to take centre stage.

Founded by designers Catherine Hicks and Kate Hart, Hicks & Hart are known for their refined, naturalistic style and intuitive approach to planting design. With backgrounds in interior design and fashion, both Catherine and Kate bring a nuanced understanding of form, colour and balance to their work. Their gardens are designed to evoke a sense of calm and joy, with schemes that evolve gently through the seasons and sit comfortably within their surroundings.

Sustainability is also at the heart of Hicks & Hart’s design ethos. Wherever possible, they incorporate environmentally conscious principles into their work, guided by both client preferences and expert consultation. Inspired by the RHS Sustainability Strategy, which encourages the UK’s 30 million gardeners to be net positive for nature, Hicks & Hart embrace practical, thoughtful solutions to reduce environmental impact. This can include selecting drought-resistant planting to withstand changing weather patterns, prioritising biodiversity and pollinators and avoiding the use of plastics and other non-biodegradable materials. Their approach ensures that beauty and ecological responsibility go hand-in-hand.

Whether designing a serene country garden or a refined urban oasis, Hicks & Hart craft outdoor spaces that feel timeless, tranquil and deeply personal to reflect the individuality of their clients. Their collaboration with Gladwell & Patterson at Chelsea Flower Show 2025 brought these values to life in a painterly garden space that invited visitors to pause and appreciate the quiet luxury of art in nature.

A Winning Planting Scheme

This special collaboration with acclaimed garden design duo Hicks & Hart transformed the space into a harmonious blend of classical charm and contemporary elegance, inviting visitors to reflect on the rich interplay between art, nature and interior style. Co-founder Kate Hart explains the concept behind the layout, saying:

“The most unique element of the design was the use of recessed planting beds set beneath the dado rail. This transformed the space into a living installation and gave the room a gallery-like presence that blurred the line between indoors and out.”

This inventive spatial concept allowed planting to be integral rather than simply decorative. Visitors were immersed in a serene, painterly environment where every detail – from foliage to frame – was considered part of a holistic visual experience. In the Drawing Room, Hicks & Hart leaned into their celebrated philosophy of simplicity and repetition. Just ten plant species were carefully chosen for the eight recessed beds, which wrapped the perimeter of the space like a verdant frieze. The effect was structured, yet soft, offering balance and rhythm without rigidity.

“We used repeated planting patterns — never uniformly — to create a sense of cohesiveness that is also playful. And a pared-back, green and white-led palette ensured the space retained a calm and grounded aesthetic,” said Kate.

This delicate equilibrium was achieved with a palette that prioritised texture and foliage over overt colour. Philadelphus ‘Snowbelle’ brought fragrant white blooms, Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Golf Ball’ added gentle formality with its rounded habit and Euphorbia corallioides introduced a splash of zesty lime, injecting a modern lift without overwhelming the scheme. While the base palette was restrained, Hicks & Hart added moments of charm and unexpected delight to punctuate the overall stillness of the design. Plants were artfully arranged in a vintage punch bowl and an antique wooden wine cooler. These touches featured Achillea ‘Moonshine’, Astrantia ‘Moulin Rouge’ and complementary selections from the main scheme, adding colour and movement without disrupting the cohesive feel.

A hallmark of Hicks & Hart’s planting style is the inclusion of ornamental grasses, used here to gently animate the room and enhance its meditative quality. These brought a sense of softness and fluidity, allowing the garden to feel alive and constantly in motion. The collaboration was met with high praise and earned the stand a coveted five gold stars from the RHS Chelsea judges. One remarked:

“The planting is just delightful. It's elegant, it ties in with the rest of the stand, it elevates without dominating. It's gorgeous."

This glowing feedback echoed the sentiments of many visitors who lingered in the space, captivated by its seamless integration of art, design and nature.

Left; Catherine Hicks and Kate Hart with our 5 Star Tradestand Award.

The Modern Room: Statement Simplicity

In contrast to the layered complexity of the Drawing Room, the modern conservatory featured just three statement plants, each chosen for form and sculptural impact: Styrax japonica 'Fragrant Fountain', a graceful, draping presence beside the wall, Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Grandiflora’, positioned dramatically on a Ralph Lauren round table and Cotinus coggygria ‘Lilla’, a dome-shaped focal point placed beside the resident artists on the stand. The contrast between lush layering and clean minimalism across the two rooms perfectly echoed the way art inhabits both traditional and modern interiors.

The modern conservatory was conceived as a deliberate contrast to the Drawing Room, supporting our broader aim of showcasing how fine art can be integrated into a variety of interior styles. At Gladwell & Patterson, a key part of our ethos is helping clients visualise how art functions within the home, not only as a focal point, but as an integral part of a lived environment. This approach was central to the design of our Stamford gallery, which opened in September 2024. The gallery was purposefully arranged to evoke the feeling of a home, allowing visitors to experience artworks situated within a domestic context. Bringing this vision to Chelsea 2025, we wanted our stand to reflect this duality by presenting both a richly layered, traditional interior and a more pared-back, contemporary space to demonstrate the breadth and adaptability of our collection. The modern conservatory in particular offered a clear statement of how art can thrive just as elegantly in minimalist, architectural settings as it does in more classical interiors, allowing visitors to imagine how each piece might live within their own spaces.

A Shared Vision

This collaboration between Hicks & Hart, Lucinda Sanford and Gladwell & Patterson was a standout moment at RHS Chelsea 2025. The stand offered a vision of interiors where art and nature sit in quiet conversation, each enhancing the other. With Lucinda’s elegant spatial design and Hicks & Hart’s naturalistic planting, the result was a gallery-like atmosphere full of character, balance and life. Most importantly, it provided a setting where Gladwell & Patterson’s collection could shine, as always, with timeless beauty and grace.

For more behind-the-scenes content from Chelsea, we encourage you to keep an eye on our social channels where we’ll be sharing further insights from the show. While our stand offered a distinctive planting scheme tailored to our vision, the wider selection of gardens and exhibits on display this year were nothing short of extraordinary. We were fortunate to be joined by Chris Young, former editor of the RHS members’ magazine, who kindly led a private tour for Gladwell & Patterson. With his expert knowledge and thoughtful commentary, Chris helped shed light on some of the more intricate garden designs, offering a deeper appreciation for the creativity and innovation present across the show.

Additional Information

For those interested in the finer details, we’ve included expandable sections below featuring the full planting list and a directory of trusted suppliers. If you have any questions or enquiries for your own garden design project, please don’t hesitate to contact Kate and Catherine directly at gardens@hicksandhart.com, or reach out to us at admin@gladwellpatterson.com.

Planting List

Tree

• Styrax japonica 'Fragrant Fountain'

Shrubs

• Cotinus coggygria ‘Lilla’

• Edgeworthia chrysantha ‘Grandiflora’

• Euphorbia mellifera - Canary Spurge

• Euphorbia corallioides (syn. E. oblongata) - Coral Spurge

• Philadelphus ‘Snowbelle’ - Mock Orange ‘Snowbelle’

• Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Golf Ball’ - Tawhiwhi ‘Golf Ball’

Grasses

• Calamagrostis × acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' - Feather Reed Grass

• Stipa tenuissima - Mexican Feather Grass

Perennials

• Achillea ‘Moonshine’ - Yarrow ‘Moonshine’

• Astrantia major ‘Moulin Rouge’ - Masterwort ‘Moulin Rouge’

• Astrantia major ‘Star of Love’ - Masterwort ‘Star of Love’

• Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Sonata White’

• Digitalis purpurea ‘Dalmatian White’ - Foxglove

• Eryngium ‘Magical White Lagoon’ - Sea Holly

• Stachys byzantina (also known as Stachys lanata) - Lamb’s Ears

• Salvia nemorosa ‘Sensation White’ (‘Florsalwhite’)

Suppliers