Weed it and reap! Alan Titchmarsh blasts 'rewilding fad' at Chelsea Flower Show ... trends now

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Alan Titchmarsh has hit out at 'fads and fancies' at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Branding the likes of rewilding as a 'step backwards', the 75-year-old celebrity gardener said the assumption that we should reduce the number of 'exotic' species we plant was 'erroneous'.

And he added that climate change meant gardeners need to increase the variety of plants and flowers not reduce it.

'Rewilded' gardens have attracted controversy at the Royal Horticultural Society's flagship event in recent years - with one garden by designers Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunt including a beaver dam winning the coveted 'best in show' award in 2022.

Writing about the annual show in Country Life magazine, he said: 'The variety of today's show gardens is hugely welcome, as is the appearance of young garden designers with original ideas.

'Less welcome are the fads and fancies that purport to signal the way forward in domestic gardens, but which are in real terms a step backwards.'

He continued: 'The erroneous assumption a couple of years ago that 'rewilding' meant reducing the number of exotic plants in the garden and sticking to British natives was a case in point.

'Why anyone could think fewer species and varieties could increase biodiversity is beyond me.

'What's

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