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As next year’s trend shifts towards more landscaped gardens, award-winning designer Sarah Eberle is creating a Chelsea garden to celebrate the countryside.
‘On the Edge’, which marks the centenary of the Campaign to Protect Rural England in 2026, celebrates the countryside as a living, shared place that shapes our well-being, our communities and our future, shining a light on the neglected ‘edgelands’ of our towns and cities.
“It’s round, it’s soft, it’s comfortable, it’s like falling on a pillow,” is how she describes a garden that feels like the countryside. “Natural gardens can be very good for the mind.”
But how can we make our urban plots look like the countryside?
use native plants
“Using native plants, things we see in the countryside, helps,” says Eberle, who works at RHS Chelsea. Hampton Court Has achieved his 20 gold medals.
“For example, hawthorn is a beautiful small tree, very suitable for the small garden. You can get them with white or pink flowers. Some varieties have very large thorns, so choose wisely, otherwise they can act as a great deterrent. You can grow them as a bush or hedge.
“It’s also very important ecologically. Lots of insects eat it and it’s also great near water.”
She suggests that many of the native shrubs seen in hedgerows could be grown as specimens, including common dogwood, Cornus sanguinea, which has colorful winter stems and deep red leaves in autumn.
“There are also a lot of native grasses. One of my favorites is Luzula nivea, snow rush, which is evergreen. Some of the Carex are great for shade. I love the soft texture in the garden, which gives it a hugging feel.”
Pay attention to the green space around you
“When you’re out in the countryside, go with your eyes open. Sometimes we just get distracted by conversations with friends or by the dog and we just keep looking without looking,” she says.
Be more aware of your surroundings and you may find plants you can replicate in your garden that reflect the character of the countryside.
Don’t mistake this for rewilding
If you want the countryside experience you have to get out of the carefully tended garden mentality, she says, but it’s a far cry from reforestation.
“Attitudes towards gardening have changed. Historically, gardening has always been associated with control, but nowadays it’s more about well-being, relaxing in nature, feeling the nature around you, so there is less need for extreme control, but there are ways to deal with it.
“You can use some elements that are quite controlled, such as the native yew, which you can use as clipped balls, domes or pillars that will give a sense of order to things that are loose around them. It shows that control is intended.”
She explains that this is completely different from the idea of rewilding.
“With rewilding, you just leave it alone. It’s appropriate in some places but for me it’s for wide areas of the landscape, generally, with ecological things in mind.
“Gardens have to be managed because they are small spaces for people, plants and animals. Reforestation will go through ugly stages. You have no control so if you have something over-vigorous, it takes over.”
Create a Natural Pot Display
“Most of these (native) plants will do well as long as the pot is large enough, or you keep them potted. They don’t like being confined to a pot.”
She advises that lots of native ferns, both deciduous and evergreen, are good for pots and you can make an entire patio garden from different ferns which again are very textured and soft.
give the weeds some room
She revealed that Eberle is using a large amount of weed in her 2026 Chelsea garden.
“Everyone thinks buttercups are weeds, but if you use them carefully and watch how they grow, they are a great contributor to the garden and bring lots of lovely insects and birds with them.”
She keeps them within limits and notes that there are many different varieties on the market – long, short and double.
“I’m not talking about the massive double ranunculus we see that are usually sold as seeds for the annual market. These are the yellow things we see hanging around British countryside.”
let the flowers do their thing
In addition to wild roses, Eberle’s Chelsea garden will also feature Viburnum opulus which produces beautiful white flowers.
“I always use color carefully. For me, it’s about a feeling of well-being and attractiveness. I’m not there to join a party, I’m there for cool reasons, so the colors I use are blue, yellow and cream. I don’t use pink and red a lot, but that’s a personal choice.”
use natural ingredients
If you’re interested in hard landscaping, try using natural materials such as free-draining gravel, which plants can self-seed, willow, natural paving materials or things like old brick that people can give away but which can look quite rustic.
“You can find old driftwood on the beach, which makes beautiful features in the garden.”
let the lawn loosen
Eberle goes for species-rich turf or seed mixes that include native perennial wild flowers, not bowling green lawns.
“Species-richness is not just about flowers, it is about different types of grasses feeding different types of insects and some flowers can be quite incompatible.”
keep it right
“When a garden is naturalist you just intervene when something bothers you and if something starts to get too vigorous you can intervene, pinching some of it out or removing the flower heads before they flower so they don’t set seed that year,” Eberle suggests.
“But you can play with it. It becomes like you. You become the artist of the garden.”