GROW London: A Contemporary Garden Fair Returns to Hampstead Heath

Pack up your plants, Chelsea Flower Show. The second annual GROW London garden fair is coming to London’s Hampstead Heath next month. We had so much fun co-sponsoring the contemporary design fair last year that this time around we’ll also be curating a pop-up Gardenista Market, featuring garden furnishings and accessories from our favorite artisans and makers.

The fair will run from June 19 to 21. Stop by Hampstead Heath for fresh gardening ideas, modern garden accessories, outdoor furniture, and planters for small-space gardens, plus a wide variety of new and unusual plants. For more information, see GROW London.

Here’s a sneak peek at some of our favorites among the more than 80 exhibitors at the fair:

Above: With a company name derived from the Old English term “bosky” meaning “a small forest,” Boskke makes hanging sky planters to make it possible to have fresh herbs and greenery all over the house. All you need is a little ceiling space. For more, see The Hanging Kitchen Garden by Boskke.

Above: The guerrilla gardening gurus from Kabloom will be at the fair with Seedboms, compressed bundles of seed-impregnated soil ready to toss into vacant lots or forlorn dirt patches. For more on the movement, see Throw It, Grow It: London’s Guerrilla Gardeners.

Above: As our UK correspondent Kendra Wilson said recently of Rush Matters, “It’s hard work, being the last harvester of bulrush in the UK. Every summer Felicity Irons spends three months in the river wielding a rush knife, which is a three foot blade attached to a six foot pole, like a scythe. She cuts two tons of rush stems a day, which is punted back to her farm and dried against a large hedge.”

Clients include The Conran Shop and David Mellor Design, but Irons’ rush mats also can be seen covering the Tudor floors of Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire and other National Trust properties.

For more, see Medieval and Modern Rush.

Above: Favorites in the year-round garden that supplies menu ingredients for London’s The River Café, family-based Franchi Seeds from Italy is known for varieties of winter-hardy chicories, chards, and spinaches. Franchi Seeds also are available from Seeds of Italy for European gardeners and from Grow Italian for US gardeners. For more, see Sow Now for Winter Salad.

Above: With items in tow from her eponymous garden store in Hampstead village, plantswoman Judy Green will be exhibiting new products and gardening accessories for 2015. We recently spent a day with her in the garden; see At Home with Judy Green in London’s Leafiest Suburb.