One growing medium stood out to me at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show: sand.
I grew up by the seaside, so I’m a huge fan of coastal garden ideas, and that’s why The Hospitalfield Arts Garden was one of my favourites when I visited the Show yesterday. It showcased drought-tolerant plants, established in a dune-like planting scheme that’s inspired by the sand dune landscape of Hospitalfield Arts on the east coast of Scotland.
Climate-resilient planting was one of the biggest RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025 trends I spotted yesterday, and I was intrigued by the choice of sand as a growing medium, so I spoke to the garden’s designer, Nigel Dunnett, who told me that the future of gardening could be rooted in sand (well, almost…).
As it turns out, sand is capturing the attention of more and more gardeners as a planting medium in the garden.
‘There’s a huge interest, horticulturally, in growing plants in sand or gravel instead of traditional garden soil or topsoil,’ Nigel said.
You’ll still need to make sure there’s soil beneath the layer of sand, but applying that layer on top can provide our gardens with a myriad of benefits. Interestingly, growing plants in challenging media like sand can make them more resilient.
‘By having a layer of sand or gravel on top, the plants are a lot harder, and when we experience drought and extreme conditions, they can put up with a lot more,’ Nigel explained.
‘You don’t need to remove all the soil from your garden and replace it with sand – just a layer, around 10 centimetres deep, is enough for plants to get their roots down into the natural soil.’
Sand is a free-draining medium, so it’s a brilliant choice for plants that love well-drained soil. That happens to be most drought-tolerant plants, so you’ll find that a lot of the best plants for a Mediterranean garden will benefit from this planting medium.
It’s also a brilliant way to keep weeds at bay, acting as a kind of mulch that can also conserve moisture during hot weather. You can buy horticultural sand from B&Q.
Nigel thinks we’ll see more and more sand used in gardens over the years ahead.
‘I think this is a glimpse of the future,’ he said. ‘We’ve had the driest spring for 100 years, and we’re going to have to move towards this type of planting, so it’s a little taste of what our gardens might look like in the future.’
Looking around the Hospitalfield Arts Garden, Nigel highlighted some of the key plants he used in the scheme.
‘A lot of the planting, which is drought-tolerant, is grey, silver, blue and green leaves, and they’re all adapted to these conditions and work together really nicely,’ he said. ‘Artemisia ‘Valerie Finnis’ stands upright with bold leaves, and we’ve got sea kale and even asparagus, which actually grows wild on beaches.’
I loved the pink seathrift and honey spurge, too.
Get the look
Artemisia ludoviciana ‘Valerie Finnis’
Armeria maritima ‘Splendens’
The Hospitalfield Arts Garden is a preview of what gardening could look like in years to come. Will you be using sand in your garden this year?
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