Spring has sprung, the hedgerows are acquiring their fresh green sheen, blossom is starting to break, and the birdsong seems to have a renewed vigour. The last few days have been rather glorious in the sunshine department too, and although I don’t expect the good weather to necessarily last, with a bank holiday on the horizon, I heartily recommend getting out into the great outdoors this weekend.

It is one of the busiest times for garden centres as we take advantage of the bank holidays to start sprucing up our gardens, looking forward to the warmer months.

If you’re planning to plant up some pots, window boxes or hanging baskets, I’d urge you to consider swapping the more traditional bedding plants with more sustainable, wildlife-friendly alternatives.

The Savills Garden at Chelsea Flower Show will be the perfect blend of pretty and productive so I’d suggest that herbs are good alternatives for bedding plants. They are more sustainable, as they don’t need replacing every season, provide a great source of nectar for pollinators and have the bonus of offering fresh flavours for drinks and dishes:

Mentha ‘Strawberry Mint’ - there are lots of different flavours of mint on the market now – I’d avoid banana mint if I were you – but a particular favourite of mine is strawberry mint. It’s great to pep up a Pimm’s or add to a fruit salad.

Thymus ‘Jekka’ - discovered by my pal Jekka McVicar who is growing a lot of the herbs for the Chelsea garden. This one flowers a lot earlier than some of the others and tastes great too.

Rosemary (has been renamed as Salvia rosmarinus so don’t get confused if you’re unable to locate it). I’ve been trying to get a cutting of this fantastic herb Salvia rosmarinus ‘Green Ginger’ from another friend of mine, the great cook, author and food writer, Mark Diacono. He made me a Tom Collins cocktail using a syrup that was infused with this and I’ve wanted it ever since. I’ve been working on the Chelsea garden with Mark who’s been sharing his bounteous knowledge with me and the team.

A trailing rosemary - Salvia rosmarinus ‘Fota Blue’ - could work well in a pot if you’d like to add that different dimension of interest. 

Helichrysum italicum ‘Korma’ - I love a curry and I love this plant. It’s one that I can never pass without reaching out to run my fingers through it, savouring its warming, mouth-watering scent. I’m a big fan of its buttonlike bright yellow flowers too.

Salvia officinalis ‘Icterina’ - a beautiful golden variegation to the leaf contrasts rather fantastically with its blue flowers but one of my all-time favourites is Salvia officinalis purpurascens. I love the deeply textured purple leaves that act as a great foil for so many other colours in the garden.

I can highly recommend Mark Diacono’s book, Herb as a fantastic source of recipes for these herbs as well as many more and Jekka’s Herb Farm is an incredible place to source them from. The farm is well worth a visit and she’s staging her HerbFest again this year on Friday 30th June to Sunday 2nd July 2023.

Mark Gregory is the designer of the Savills Garden.

Further information

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From plot to plate: Savills returns to Chelsea Flower Show with a colourful collaboration