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Daily Tribune
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Tribune
AI talking trees feature at Chelsea Flower Show
Talking trees powered by AI, drought-resistant crops and sweet potatoes sprouting among flowers -- the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show is facing the future with a focus on innovation and climate-change adaptation. There are stunning gardens, 30 competing for top awards, and more than 400 exhibitors showcasing their gardening knowledge and carefully-cultivated plants to the public and champagne-sipping VIPs. King Charles III was to visit Monday with Queen Camilla, with an eye on the show's first ever dog garden, designed by celebrity gardener Monty Don. The head of state was also expected to visit the Wildlife Trusts' British Rainforests garden where the main attraction is a 50-year-old fern that once thrived in the Great Park of Windsor. The garden was 'inspired by the enchanted forests of Arthurian legend' and it 'rekindles the wild and wet woodlands that once swathed vast landscapes along the west coast'. Intelligent Garden In the Intelligent Garden, plant-lovers can truly talk to the trees thanks to artificial intelligence. Pioneering AI sensors called Treetalk have been installed to give updates on the trees' needs in urban environments, whether they are under stress and how to care for them. 'Urban trees filter air pollution, cool the air, support wildlife, and boost community wellbeing. Yet, they face immense challenges,' the RHS said about the garden designed by Tom Massey and architect Je Ahn. About 50 percent of urban trees do not survive beyond 10 years and up to 30 percent die in their first year, it added. 'The use of AI is not going to replace a human being, our intuition and our labour. It's still the core and heart of this garden,' said Je Ahn. But data could give 'a clearer picture of what's going on around us'. 'Challenging conditions' The plants on display in the Garden of the Future 'have the ability to survive in a range of challenging conditions,' the designers told the RHS. Growing among the more common hawthorn bushes, are sweet potatoes which have 'fantastic nutritional value and are drought resistant,' sorghum a popular cereal from Africa, rock roses and chickpeas that are 'more resilient to warmer climates', they said. Those are all crops that 'can grow right here in the UK', said Ana Maria Loboguerrero, the Gates Foundation's director of adaptive and equitable food systems. It is the first time the foundation has sponsored a garden at the show. Designers Matthew Butler and Josh Parker said the show was a chance to reflect on 'the future of crops, food and livelihoods in the face of climate change'. The theme of sustainability is echoed across the show, including in the Seawilding garden inspired by the landscape around Loch Craignish, on the west coast of Scotland. It includes a saltwater pool, planted with seagrass -- the first time that it has ever been displayed at the show and the UK's 'only native flowering plant in the ocean,' the RHS says. Designer Ryan McMahon said he 'always assumed seagrass grew in warmer climates' so was intrigued when he discovered it in Scotland. There is also a garden called 'Songbird Survival' amid reports bird numbers have fallen in UK gardens by 50 percent in the past two generations. Or visitors can discover the 'Making Life Better with Bees' garden, with insects key to pollination. In 2021, the RHS it said it would ban the use of peat, a natural captor of CO2 one of the main greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, from the end of 2025. But growers will be able until 2028 to continue using peat, an organic material made over thousands of years from decaying vegetation in the UK's dwindling wetlands. The RHS decided to push back the peat ban for growers 'due to a complex horticultural supply chain where 60 percent of young plants, many grown in peat, are sourced from abroad'.
Japan Today
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Japan Today
AI talking trees feature at Chelsea Flower Show
Floral artist Ricky Paul looks at the Chelsea Punk, a mohican made from pampas grass By Brigitte DUSSEAU Talking trees powered by AI, drought-resistant crops and sweet potatoes sprouting among flowers -- the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show is facing the future with a focus on innovation and climate-change adaptation. Over five days starting Tuesday, more than 140,000 visitors are expected to view what the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) bills as "the pinnacle of horticultural excellence". There are stunning gardens, 30 competing for top awards, and more than 400 exhibitors showcasing their gardening knowledge and carefully-cultivated plants to the public and champagne-sipping VIPs. King Charles III was to visit Monday with Queen Camilla, with an eye on the show's first ever dog garden, designed by celebrity gardener Monty Don. The head of state was also expected to visit the Wildlife Trusts' British Rainforests garden where the main attraction is a 50-year-old fern that once thrived in the Great Park of Windsor. The garden was "inspired by the enchanted forests of Arthurian legend" and it "rekindles the wild and wet woodlands that once swathed vast landscapes along the west coast". In the Intelligent Garden, plant-lovers can truly talk to the trees thanks to artificial intelligence. Pioneering AI sensors called Treetalk have been installed to give updates on the trees' needs in urban environments, whether they are under stress and how to care for them. "Urban trees filter air pollution, cool the air, support wildlife, and boost community wellbeing. Yet, they face immense challenges," the RHS said about the garden designed by Tom Massey and architect Je Ahn. About 50 percent of urban trees do not survive beyond 10 years and up to 30 percent die in their first year, it added. "The use of AI is not going to replace a human being, our intuition and our labour. It's still the core and heart of this garden," said Je Ahn. But data could give "a clearer picture of what's going on around us". The plants on display in the Garden of the Future "have the ability to survive in a range of challenging conditions," the designers told the RHS. Growing among the more common hawthorn bushes, are sweet potatoes which have "fantastic nutritional value and are drought resistant," sorghum a popular cereal from Africa, rock roses and chickpeas that are "more resilient to warmer climates", they said. Those are all crops that "can grow right here in the UK", said Ana Maria Loboguerrero, the Gates Foundation's director of adaptive and equitable food systems. It is the first time the foundation has sponsored a garden at the show. Designers Matthew Butler and Josh Parker said the show was a chance to reflect on "the future of crops, food and livelihoods in the face of climate change". The theme of sustainability is echoed across the show, including in the Seawilding garden inspired by the landscape around Loch Craignish, on the west coast of Scotland. It includes a saltwater pool, planted with seagrass -- the first time that it has ever been displayed at the show and the UK's "only native flowering plant in the ocean," the RHS says. Designer Ryan McMahon said he "always assumed seagrass grew in warmer climates" so was intrigued when he discovered it in Scotland. There is also a garden called "Songbird Survival" amid reports bird numbers have fallen in UK gardens by 50 percent in the past two generations. Or visitors can discover the "Making Life Better with Bees" garden, with insects key to pollination. The annual horticultural show is organised in the grounds of the Royal Chelsea Hospital, and has long championed environmental issues. In 2021, the RHS it said it would ban the use of peat, a natural captor of CO2 one of the main greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, from the end of 2025. But growers will be able until 2028 to continue using peat, an organic material made over thousands of years from decaying vegetation in the UK's dwindling wetlands. The RHS decided to push back the peat ban for growers "due to a complex horticultural supply chain where 60 percent of young plants, many grown in peat, are sourced from abroad". © 2025 AFP
Observer
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Observer
AI talking trees feature at Chelsea Flower Show
Talking trees powered by AI, drought-resistant crops and sweet potatoes sprouting among flowers — the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show is facing the future with a focus on innovation and climate-change adaptation. Over five days starting on Tuesday, more than 140,000 visitors are expected to view what the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) bills as 'the pinnacle of horticultural excellence'. There are stunning gardens, 30 competing for top awards, and more than 400 exhibitors showcasing their gardening knowledge and carefully-cultivated plants to the public and champagne-sipping VIPs. King Charles III was to visit with Queen Camilla, with an eye on the show's first ever dog garden, designed by celebrity gardener Monty Don. The head of state was also expected to visit the Wildlife Trusts' British Rainforests garden where the main attraction is a 50-year-old fern that once thrived in the Great Park of Windsor. The garden was 'inspired by the enchanted forests of Arthurian legend' and it 'rekindles the wild and wet woodlands that once swathed vast landscapes along the west coast'. In the Intelligent Garden, plant-lovers can truly talk to the trees thanks to artificial intelligence. Pioneering AI sensors called Treetalk have been installed to give updates on the trees' needs in urban environments, whether they are under stress and how to care for them. 'Urban trees filter air pollution, cool the air, support wildlife and boost community well-being. Yet, they face immense challenges,' the RHS said about the garden designed by Tom Massey and architect Je Ahn. About 50 per cent of urban trees do not survive beyond 10 years and up to 30 per cent die in their first year, it added. 'The use of AI is not going to replace a human being, our intuition and our labour. It's still the core and heart of this garden,' said Je Ahn. But data could give 'a clearer picture of what's going on around us'. The plants on display in the Garden of the Future 'have the ability to survive in a range of challenging conditions,' the designers told the RHS. Growing among the more common hawthorn bushes, are sweet potatoes which have 'fantastic nutritional value and are drought resistant,' sorghum a popular cereal from Africa, rock roses and chickpeas that are 'more resilient to warmer climates', they said. Those are all crops that 'can grow right here in the UK', said Ana Maria Loboguerrero, the Gates Foundation's director of adaptive and equitable food systems. It is the first time the foundation has sponsored a garden at the show. Designers Matthew Butler and Josh Parker said the show was a chance to reflect on 'the future of crops, food and livelihoods in the face of climate change'. The theme of sustainability is echoed across the show, including in the Seawilding garden inspired by the landscape around Loch Craignish, on the west coast of Scotland. It includes a saltwater pool, planted with seagrass — the first time that it has ever been displayed at the show and the UK's 'only native flowering plant in the ocean,' the RHS says. Designer Ryan McMahon said he 'always assumed seagrass grew in warmer climates' so was intrigued when he discovered it in Scotland. There is also a garden called 'Songbird Survival' amid reports bird numbers have fallen in UK gardens by 50 per cent in the past two generations. Or visitors can discover the 'Making Life Better with Bees' garden, with insects key to pollination. The annual horticultural show is organised in the grounds of the Royal Chelsea Hospital, and has long championed environmental issues. In 2021, the RHS it said it would ban the use of peat, a natural captor of CO2 one of the main greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, from the end of 2025. But growers will be able until 2028 to continue using peat, an organic material made over thousands of years from decaying vegetation in the UK's dwindling wetlands. The RHS decided to push back the peat ban for growers 'due to a complex horticultural supply chain where 60 percent of young plants, many grown in peat, are sourced from abroad'.
Leader Live
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
Gardening with a more ‘natural' feel takes centre stage at Chelsea Flower Show
Celebrities are getting a first glimpse of this year's show on Monday, before the King and Queen tour the annual horticultural event at the Royal Hospital Chelsea celebrating all things gardening. Celebrities including Cate Blanchett, Dame Joanna Lumley and David Tennant were among those getting a sneak preview of the world famous event, along with Sir David Suchet and Zoe Ball. TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh was at the show, where he urged people to keep an eye out for Colorado beetles, which pose a 'savage' threat to the British potato industry – with the first outbreak for 50 years recorded in 2023. Dragon's Den star Deborah Meaden described a 'bit of a leap' in sustainable innovation at this year's show after presenting the event's award for best sustainable garden product of the year to Sneeboer Trading's garden scoop. And designers say many of the gardens this year have a 'very natural feeling', as people crave a connection with nature, with gravel paths bleeding into planting, paving with moss and plants growing through it and native plants from foxgloves to cow parsley featuring at the show. Nigel Dunnett, whose Hospitalfield Arts Garden grown in sand evokes the Arbroath coast where the charity is based, said the sand-growing approach was a 'hot topic' at the moment, as the UK struggles with a dry spring and the extremes of climate change loom. And he said his garden was 'plant-filled', trying to fill as much of the space as they could with plants. 'That's a common thing around most of the gardens. They do have a very natural feeling,' he said. 'Creating this immersive natural experience is something that people are really craving, rather than hard landscapes. 'It's this connection with nature, which so many of us are now losing, and gardens and public places in cities are real opportunities to reintroduce people to.' The garden is being relocated to a primary school in Arbroath after the show, and he added there was a 'duty' to reconnect children with nature so that future generations could have the spark that prompts a love of gardening. One of the most natural gardens at this year's show is the Wildlife Trusts' rainforest garden, highlighting Atlantic temperate rainforest habitat which once covered western coasts of Britain, the island of Ireland and the Isle of Man, but has shrunk from about a fifth of land to just 1%. The garden highlights efforts by the trusts, in partnership with insurance company Aviva, to restore and protect the habitat, and show how nature-friendly gardening can help British wildlife. The garden's designer, Zoe Claymore, said: 'We are going for perfectly imperfect and celebrating joy and life.' She described the garden as organised chaos, pointing to trees 'on the wonk' to showcase nature's resilience, native plants and trees such as Welsh poppies, bluebells, cowslips and foxgloves, and highlighting mosses and ferns as the 'stars of the show'. 'More wild is perfection, because perfection in horticulture isn't about everything the same, it's about the joy and connection plants bring you and nurture your soul,' she said. 'I think a more wild garden is more what it is to be human.' And Rob Stoneman, director of landscape recovery at the Wildlife Trusts, said the garden featured species such as cow parsley, which was a common hedgerow plant that many thought of as a weed but was 'beautiful'. He said that since Victorian times, it was understood that gardens and green spaces could bring the countryside into the urban realm and benefit people's health and mental health. But a typical garden centre was filled with plastic and pesticides and had become artificial. 'I'm not saying all of that is bad, but actually, what we need to do is return back to this concept of bringing the countryside back into your piece of green space because you'll get the benefits from that.' He said the garden was peat and insecticide-free, and with native trees and plants, to help showcase how to 'bring some of the wild to our city spaces'. Elsewhere, dogs have been given a rare chance to access the Chelsea Flower Show, with Monty Don's dog Ned among those checking out the dog garden, which the TV gardener helped create alongside the organisers, the Royal Horticultural Society and BBC Radio 2. Mr Don revealed a fox had slept in the garden over the weekend and highlighted some key features, including a dog house where they are 'allowed to lie on the sofas', a gate that leads out to an 'imaginary countryside' for walks and a lawn looking 'quite trashed already'. 'Having said I would never, under any circumstances, do a show garden anywhere, let alone at Chelsea, the RHS persuaded me by bringing dogs into the equation and I can't resist the combination of dogs and gardens, which I've always had,' he said. 'So from the outset this was a garden intended to be for an owner of dogs and I wanted it to be a very simple garden. There's no message, there's no hidden back story. It is what it is. What you see is what you get.' The garden, which will not be judged, will be relocated to nearby Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, with Mr Don adding: 'We're here for a week but hopefully (in) Battersea forever.'
Int'l Business Times
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Int'l Business Times
AI Talking Trees Feature At Chelsea Flower Show
Talking trees powered by AI, drought-resistant crops and sweet potatoes sprouting among flowers -- the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show is facing the future with a focus on innovation and climate-change adaptation. Over five days starting Tuesday, more than 140,000 visitors are expected to view what the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) bills as "the pinnacle of horticultural excellence". There are stunning gardens, 30 competing for top awards, and more than 400 exhibitors showcasing their gardening knowledge and carefully-cultivated plants to the public and champagne-sipping VIPs. King Charles III was to visit Monday with Queen Camilla, with an eye on the show's first ever dog garden, designed by celebrity gardener Monty Don. The head of state was also expected to visit the Wildlife Trusts' British Rainforests garden where the main attraction is a 50-year-old fern that once thrived in the Great Park of Windsor. The garden was "inspired by the enchanted forests of Arthurian legend" and it "rekindles the wild and wet woodlands that once swathed vast landscapes along the west coast". In the Intelligent Garden, plant-lovers can truly talk to the trees thanks to artificial intelligence. Pioneering AI sensors called Treetalk have been installed to give updates on the trees' needs in urban environments, whether they are under stress and how to care for them. "Urban trees filter air pollution, cool the air, support wildlife, and boost community wellbeing. Yet, they face immense challenges," the RHS said about the garden designed by Tom Massey and architect Je Ahn. About 50 percent of urban trees do not survive beyond 10 years and up to 30 percent die in their first year, it added. "The use of AI is not going to replace a human being, our intuition and our labour. It's still the core and heart of this garden," said Je Ahn. But data could give "a clearer picture of what's going on around us". The plants on display in the Garden of the Future "have the ability to survive in a range of challenging conditions," the designers told the RHS. Growing among the more common hawthorn bushes, are sweet potatoes which have "fantastic nutritional value and are drought resistant," sorghum a popular cereal from Africa, rock roses and chickpeas that are "more resilient to warmer climates", they said. Those are all crops that "can grow right here in the UK", said Ana Maria Loboguerrero, the Gates Foundation's director of adaptive and equitable food systems. It is the first time the foundation has sponsored a garden at the show. Designers Matthew Butler and Josh Parker said the show was a chance to reflect on "the future of crops, food and livelihoods in the face of climate change". The theme of sustainability is echoed across the show, including in the Seawilding garden inspired by the landscape around Loch Craignish, on the west coast of Scotland. It includes a saltwater pool, planted with seagrass -- the first time that it has ever been displayed at the show and the UK's "only native flowering plant in the ocean," the RHS says. Designer Ryan McMahon said he "always assumed seagrass grew in warmer climates" so was intrigued when he discovered it in Scotland. There is also a garden called "Songbird Survival" amid reports bird numbers have fallen in UK gardens by 50 percent in the past two generations. Or visitors can discover the "Making Life Better with Bees" garden, with insects key to pollination. The annual horticultural show is organised in the grounds of the Royal Chelsea Hospital, and has long championed environmental issues. In 2021, the RHS it said it would ban the use of peat, a natural captor of CO2 one of the main greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, from the end of 2025. But growers will be able until 2028 to continue using peat, an organic material made over thousands of years from decaying vegetation in the UK's dwindling wetlands. The RHS decided to push back the peat ban for growers "due to a complex horticultural supply chain where 60 percent of young plants, many grown in peat, are sourced from abroad". Gardener Monty Don poses with his dog Ned, a golden retriever, in his dog-friendly garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower show AFP A visitor looks at a display of daffodils during the preview day at the RHS Chelsea Flower show AFP A sensor is pictured on a tree in the Avanade Intelligent Garden to track tree health and soil conditions AFP A Chelsea Pensioner looks at a display of roses at the RHS Chelsea Flower show in London AFP
