Where to buy Chelsea’s new garden must have – weeds!

For anyone who has spent backbreaking hours trying to get rid of dandelions and buttercups in their lawn, the news that this year’s Chelsea Flower show has put weeds front and centre is enough to make you weep.

As long as anyone can remember, Chelsea has been a showcase for elegant, opulent flowers such as irises, delphiniums, roses and lupins. so why are scruffy nettles, bindweed and brambles taking centre stage?

The royal Horticultural society, which organises the show, has suggested that the term ‘weeds’ is derogatory and now wants us to refer to invasive plants like knapweed, nettles and thistles as ‘resilient plants’ or ‘hero plants’.

even more bizarrely, the designers who created this year’s show gardens have admitted that weeds — freely available in my garden, and probably in yours too — are actually quite expensive to buy.

For example, Landlife Wildflowers in Lincolnshire is offering 25 small dandelion plants for £32, with hairraising prices on daisies and buttercups also common online.

Jilayne rickards, who used brambles and thistles in her Flora and Fauna garden, says the joy of weeds is ‘they don’t need watering and feeding’, which is a euphemism for ‘give them a few months and they’ll take over your entire plot’.

Tom Massey, who designed a bug-friendly garden for the royal entomological society at this year’s show, says dandelions are an excellent source of nectar for bees because they flower so early in the season, and besides, ‘they’re really nice to look at’.

There is something faintly absurd about Chelsea show gardens, which cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to build, painstakingly recreating weedy urban wastelands. Yet buried under the jargon, these designs do have a rather clunky, unsubtle point.

insect numbers in Britain have collapsed at an alarming rate, yet they are a crucial food for all sorts of birds and reptiles, and vital for our food supply: three-quarters of crops are pollinated by insects.

The odd clump of dandelions, clover and daisies in a garden makes a great source of nectar for pollinators. Make room for red campion and you’ll attract beneficial insects and, in turn, more birds.

Last year, feeling slightly embarrassed, i encouraged a small patch of nettles in my garden, because they are the best food for the caterpillars of red admiral butterflies. it worked — i had lots of beautiful butterflies in my garden.

But unlike the designers at Chelsea, i draw the line at paying for weeds. i dug up my nettles from the pavement. Although, if your heart is set on ‘reweeding’, here’s where you can find them...

DAISIES: 25 plug plants for £32, from wildflower.co.uk

PLAnTed in full sun, these cheerful little flowers are much loved by pollinators including hoverflies, bees and butterflies. DANDELIONS: 10 bare-rooted wild dandelions, £14.99 from hangingwood.uk

Bees, butterflies, hoverflies, moths and solitary bees all feast on dandelions, which are packed with vitamins and minerals. BUTTERCUPS: 10 plug plants for £16.45, meadowmania.co.uk

An iMPorTAnT food for bees, wasps and beetles, they will spread in sun or partial shade.

STINGING NETTLES: 20 plug plants for £19.80, naturescape.co.uk one of the most important plants for wildlife, supporting over 40 insect types including butterflies and ladybirds. The leaves can be used for nettle soup or risotto.

RED CAMPION:

£23 for 20 plug plants, cumbriawildflowers.co.uk

A PreTTY wildflower, this grows in lightly shaded areas and attracts pollinating insects.

COMMON KNAPWEED:

20 plug plants for £19.80 from naturescape.co.uk THis tough and attractive plant will bring in bees, butterflies, moths and birds.