Helensburgh garden designer to have work featured at RHS show

Rachel Bailey, whose garden design business is based in Glenoran Road to the west of the town, will create and display a long border at this year’s RHS Chatsworth event taking place between June 5 and 9 in Derbyshire’s Peak District.

The work, produced alongside colleague Nicola Sweeney, will bring together Rachel’s passion for the art, science and craft of gardening and will follow the ‘five senses’ theme of the 2019 show.

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Rachel explained: “We’re delighted that our proposed exhibit has been chosen for RHS Chatsworth.

“Mental health issues affect many of us, and our border will highlight the important connection between scent and emotional wellbeing.

“Our sense of smell directly influences our emotions, memories and physiology at an instinctive and subconscious level; inhalation of plant extracts is known to have a positive effect on brain activity. In particular, rose oil vapour is thought to have therapeutic properties, and the iconic rose will be central to the border.”

A former biological research scientist and project manager, Rachel trained as a garden designer at the world renowned Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

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Honing her craft as a gardener at the National Trust Scotland, she established Rachel Bailey Garden Design in 2015, and has since been working with clients and a variety of gardens in Helensburgh and beyond.

Her RHS Chatsworth long border will be no exception, with a strongly scented variety of plants in a pattern resembling a brain wave, while an abstract metal sculpture will symbolise the direct effect of scent and additional plants will be used to stimulate other senses.

This year saw her company win a Best of Houzz 2019 award for customer service, and in 2018 it won the prestigious ProLandscaper Business Award for garden design.