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Tim Richardson 21 May 2016 11:27am BST Despite a standout overall winner in Dan Pearson, 2015 was not a vintage year for Chelsea show gardens. Happily 2016 promises much more, with 17

gardens that display a pleasing variety and a sense of the personalities of their creators. This is something we have missed in recent years, when the on-trend naturalistic plantings have

seemed almost interchangeable. For most of the top designers, the overall theme remains extreme naturalism, with the meadowy cow-parsley-and-foxglove feel of recent Chelseas giving way to a

more robust approach – less domestic and more “outward bound”. There are a lot of rocks at this year’s Chelsea. Also plenty of woodlands, plashy streams and unusual species plants; far fewer

decks, home offices and bubbling water features. Following Pearson’s example last year, entire regions are evoked by designers such as Cleve West and Hugo Bugg, who seek to replicate

wilderness. It seems the old idea that show gardens have to be imaginable as real back gardens has been quietly dropped. Now the owner of a Chelsea show garden would not say, “Would you like

to come and see the garden?” but, “Would you like to come and experience my miniature evocation of the semi-arid habitat in Patagonia?” Meanwhile in the aspirational corner, the concept of

lifestyle has morphed into “wellness”, with yoga zones and sacred pools taking the place of hot tubs and walk-in wine cellars. • You can buy tickets for the show from the RHS website. 3-1, 

ANDY STURGEON THE TELEGRAPH GARDEN It’s not the done thing to commend the home team, but the fact is, Sturgeon has to be considered odds-on favourite. The Jurassic theme – expressed in part

as a kind of deconstructed bronze stegosaurus – is a trifle kooky, but Sturgeon has the experience to control this big and bold idea. He has always been happiest when working within strong

structures, and a dinosaur motif is definitely, er, strong. (Anyway, isn’t a sturgeon a prehistoric fish?) The proof will be in the planting, as ever. The dream team behind The

Telegraph's Chelsea Flower Show garden 4-1, JAMES BASSON L’OCCITANE This designer delighted and surprised many last year with the delicacy and detail of his planting and also the sheer

charm of the corner of Provence he confected for the same perfume-house sponsor. This year he has been commissioned to do exactly the same thing again – or at least that is what it looks

like on paper. We can be sure, however, that the lavender-infused, almond-grove scene Basson creates this year will not look the same as last year’s. The virtue of the Provence theme is that

it is simple and accessible, whereas so many Chelsea gardens are weighed down by their symbolism. Indeed, if Basson goes one better than last year, he will be in the running for the

best-in-show award. The best ever Chelsea Flower Show gardens 5-1, CLEVE WEST THE M&G GARDEN West is a bigger name than James Basson, but he is on slightly longer odds because of the

risks he is taking with this evocation of the Exmoor landscape. With “stunted oaks”, ivy and bilberry bushes promised as the prime horticultural interest, he may have pushed the wilderness

theme too far. The question is, can stunted oaks win the Chelsea Flower Show? West says he wants to create “a tangible atmosphere” – and that can only be applauded. 5-1, CHRIS BEARDSHAW THE

MORGAN STANLEY GARDEN FOR GREAT ORMOND STREET Last year it was community gardens, this year a children’s hospital – Morgan Stanley leads the charge among banks seeking to heal their damaged

public image. Chris Beardshaw’s garden – you guessed it, a naturalistic woodland – is to be relocated on the roof of the children’s hospital. The light-touch Japanese theme, with a viewing

pavilion, formal pool and the use of acers and cornus, could prove to be a winner if treated with delicacy. 6-1, CHARLIE ALBONE SUPPORT, THE HUSQVARNA GARDEN It’s amazing that this is the

only Chelsea show garden conceived along traditional formal lines, with a central axis lined with rectangular clipped topiaries flanked by bursting borders. As a basis for a design it’s the

standard Chelsea “formal structure meets exuberant planting” formula. The secret weapon is the way that Australian species such as banksia, correa and leucadendron are interspersed through

more traditional perennials. 6-1, HUGO BUGG ROYAL BANK OF CANADA Bugg has produced an ambitious garden that is almost as wild in theme as West’s Exmoor effusion, being a replica of the arid

desert flora of Jordan. The spiritual qualities of water as an element are evoked by a central “sacred pool”. This presumably means that RBC will not be following the habit of Australian

exhibitors who ornament their water features with bikini-clad beauties on press day (bathing vicars, mullahs and rabbis, perhaps?). 6-1, JO THOMPSON QATARI DIAR – THE CHELSEA BARRACKS I

can’t remember seeing a plan for a Chelsea show garden that is as bewildering as this one, which has a curiously empty look, with a bare island of lawn at its centre. The idea is to

deconstruct several of the features proposed for the luxury housing development at the Chelsea Barracks site, across the road from the show. Thompson is an experienced designer with a good

budget, so there is a chance that this rose garden meets landform will convince in the end. 7-1, ROSY HARDY BREWIN DOLPHIN – FOREVER FREEFOLK There is a lot of chatter around the celebrated

nurserywoman’s first shot at a Chelsea show garden. It’s yet another landscape evocation – of the Test Valley in Hampshire – but one that is lightly worn (no boulders). We can expect “old

school” planting of the complexity and sophistication which many Chelsea visitors have missed recently. The planting, however, is undermined by over-assertive hard landscaping – by a

landscape firm, not by the designer. When we spoke a few months ago, Hardy herself didn’t seem exactly sure why there was going to be a gigantic metal pod thing in her garden. 7-1, JEKKA

MCVICAR THE ST JOHN’S HOSPICE – A MODERN APOTHECARY McVicar is another tent-dweller who has made a break for the outside world – i.e. a nursery-stand exhibitor who has become a show-garden

designer. The forage-able herb lawn is a nice idea, and there is sure to be plenty of beguiling detail in the planting. But this garden just doesn’t look substantial or original enough to

win best in show; if there is too much “design” in Rosy Hardy’s garden, there is not enough of it here. A gold medal is highly likely, however, not least because McVicar is highly respected

by the RHS. 7-1, NICK BAILEY WINTON CAPITAL – BEAUTY OF MATHEMATICS The highly regarded head gardener at Chelsea Physic Garden makes his Chelsea debut with this rather brainy design which

takes the form of a… oh, what’s the word? Ah yes, a woodland! A swirly copper band snakes through it, adorned with plants of ascending size. The sponsor wanted this theme because its

financial analysts are all maths bods, of course. It’s really a horticultural extension of a media campaign to make us believe that their subject is “beautiful” when for most of us it

remains a world of pain. 7-1, MATTHEW WILSON GOD’S OWN COUNTY – A GARDEN FOR YORKSHIRE This garden takes its inspiration from the colours in the great East Window at York Minster and

features large, flattish planting beds at the front – so it will be refreshingly bright in a year of muted woodland tones. It is also an open design, in a year of enclosure and tree

canopies. Wilson had a wobbly Chelsea debut last year, partly because his site was not really big enough for the design. This effort looks happier in the space allotted. The pinnacles on his

wooden shelter add a welcome Gothic note amid the suburban modernism everywhere else. 7-1, DIARMUID GAVIN HARRODS BRITISH ECCENTRICS GARDEN Low odds for the ever-hyped Diarmuid, whose

"bobbing topiaries", revolving flower beds and suchlike confirm his status as Chelsea's novelty act. It could just about sneak a win - but only if gardens by the like of West

and Sturgeon fail to convince, and none of the outsiders rise up. As a garden, it is a generic formal Italianate design with an Arts and Craftsy pavilion. At least this garden does not take

itself too seriously - but will it make us laugh? 10 things you didn't know about the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 8-1, CATHERINE MACDONALD FOR HARTLEY BOTANIC It's a nice premise: a

walled-garden glasshouse surrounded by a pool, set in a birch woodland. It's not this designer's fault that nearly everyone else is going for a woodland feel, too. The tropical and

aquatic plants inside the structure will add much-needed variety to the palette of plants on display. My reservation is that the design appears to be slightly one-note, with no sense of

progression into new areas. The dappled-shade plantings surrounding the glasshouse will be key. 8-1, SAM OVENS FOR CLOUDY BAY This up-and-coming designer has been compelled by his winemaker

sponsor to echo the flavours of sauvignon blanc and so on in his planting. He has risen to this ridiculous idea with aplomb to include heathers, pines and grasses as the basis for a rather

vague "habitat" that surrounds a small pond, overlooked by a red-cedar deck and pavilion. Heath spotted-orchids and potentilla are also promised, raising the horticultural game

somewhat. But will the judges consider a pleasant marsh to be a viable Chelsea show garden? 9-1, PAUL MARTIN VESTRA WEALTH'S GARDEN OF MINDFUL LIVING How refreshing! A straightforwardly

aspirational design featuring a chic modern pavilion and deck. This has been created for an imagined busy city client who is into Eastern travel, yoga and general mindfulness. The only

problem is, this is at least five years out of date as a Chelsea show garden. It's key material, Corten steel, because a Chelsea cliché a few years back. Did no one think to tell the

people at Vestra Wealth? 10-1, CHIHORI SHIBIYAMA & YANO TEA WATAHAN EAST & WEST GARDEN Full marks to this duo for ambition. We are promised an attractive and interesting collision

(sorry, fusion) between Japanese and English garden style: bonsai mixed with bright cottage flowers such as verbascum, geum and achillea. _Malus floribunda _in several different forms is

used as a link device. The result could be subtly evocative of East and West, or it could look like a watered-down Japanese garden of the kind we are used to seeing in suburban gardens

across Britain. 12-1, HAY JOUNG HWANG LG SMART GARDEN The number of main show gardens at Chelsea this year - 17 - represent a recovery after some lean years, but one questions the wisdom of

including gardens that are naked attempts at marketing. Here, within generic "Scandinavian lifestyle" design, various televisions and other electrical goods are on display.

Visitors are used to this sort of thing at the Hampton Court Show, where it is still possible to come across cars adorning show gardens, but we expect more of Chelsea. Chelsea Flower Show

timeline * Buy Take Chelsea Home: Practical inspiration from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show now on Amazon