RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2019: Farrow & Ball at Jardin Blanc

This week, our nine latest colours are proudly providing the backdrop for fine food, foot-tapping music and general merrymaking at the most prestigious event in the British horticultural calendar.

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is a must-visit for keen gardeners and colour lovers alike, and this year, Jardin Blanc is at its heart. The official hospitality provider for the 2019 show, Jardin Blanc is an enchanting corner of the bustling showground offering entertainment, escapism, and – to quote the man at its helm, legendary French chef Raymond Blanc OBE – pure joie de vivre.

To kick off the first day of the show, Chef Blanc hosted a discussion with the Sustainable Restaurant Association, a not-for-profit body dedicated to putting sustainability at the forefront of the food industry’s practice. Attendees also enjoyed a tasting of Warner's gins, including the distillery’s summery Honeybee variety – the perfect segue into a discussion on bee conservation.

And it seems that we, Chef Blanc and Warner's aren’t the only contributors with a bee in our bonnet about sustainability and conservation. Cornish designer Tom Raffield, whose masterpieces in steam-bent wood you may have seen on Channel 4’s Grand Designs, has returned to Jardin Blanc for 2019 to provide the lighting, each piece made to last using low-energy methods and sustainably sourced timber.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Chelsea without some greenery – to complement the idyllic feel of Jardin Blanc, the planting has been designed by Andy McIndoe, a horticulturist of 40 years’ standing and no stranger to the show. Having created 25 consecutive gold medal-winning exhibits for Chelsea, Andy returns for 2019 with a planting scheme including an abundance of vegetables.

This is very much in keeping with the trends of grassroots sustainability and conscious food production seen all over the showground this year, perhaps most notably in Tom Dixon and IKEA’s ground-breaking show garden Gardening Will Save The World.

According to Chelsea hosts Monty Don and Joe Swift, another of the biggest trends to emerge from this year’s show has been the colour green, present everywhere from the teal subway-style tiles of the Greenfingers Charity Garden to the acid green blooms of Euphorbia characias. At Jardin Blanc, our new soothing green, Bancha, ties beautifully into the trend, while down-to-earth blue De Nimes provides a warm welcome to guests crossing the threshold.

But the sustainability story of our serene greens (and blues, and pinks, and neutrals…) goes far beyond colour. With their eco-friendly water bases, child-safe formulas, responsibly sourced pigments and infinitely recyclable tins, our paints are busy doing their part in lowering the environmental impact of bringing big events like Chelsea to life.

So, if you’re looking to harness some of the magic of the Chelsea showground in your own home, we’ve got just the place to start…

Colours used: Sulking Room Pink No.295, Treron No.292, Bancha No.298, De Nimes No.299, Preference Red No.297, School House White No.291, Light Blue No.22, Card Room Green No.79, Studio Green No.93, Railings No.31.