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This week, the gates of the Royal Hospital Chelsea opened for the 113th edition of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show — and if you've been following the trends emerging from the show ground, one theme runs through almost every garden like roots through good soil: sustainability. Not as a box-ticking exercise, but as a genuine, material commitment to the way gardens are designed, built, and lived in.
From Tom Stuart-Smith's low-carbon concrete in the Tate Britain Garden to Harry Holding's clam-crete - made from mussel and cockle shells - for The Eden Project's Bring Me Sunshine Garden, the show's designers are asking hard questions about what things are made from, how long they last, and what happens to them afterwards. It's a shift in thinking that has been gathering pace for years, and in 2026 it feels fully arrived.
At Cedar Nursery, we've been asking those same questions about outdoor furniture for some time. And the answers keep pointing in the same direction: buy well, buy once.
The Problem with 'Affordable' Garden Furniture
Every spring, the big-box stores and supermarkets fill their car parks with flatpack garden furniture. Aluminium frames of uncertain origin, synthetic weaves that UV-fade by August, cushions that are mildewed before the season ends. It's cheap to buy. It isn't cheap to own - and it certainly isn't cheap for the planet.
A set that lasts two seasons before it buckles, fades, or simply becomes an eyesore will be replaced. And replaced again. Each iteration goes to landfill. The carbon cost of manufacturing, shipping, and disposing of low-quality furniture year on year is substantial - and almost entirely hidden from the price tag you see in the store.
Chelsea's designers are grappling with exactly this kind of lifecycle thinking. When Angus Thompson specifies net-zero concrete for the Asthma & Lung UK Breathing Space Garden, or the Careys trial an oyster-shell wall for their show garden, they are doing what any responsible specifier should do: asking 'what is this made from, and what will become of it?'
Teak: The Material That Improves With Age
Solid teak is perhaps the finest argument for sustainable outdoor furniture. A well-made teak piece - from a brand such as Barlow Tyrie or Alexander Rose - will outlast not just the fashion for it, but potentially the person who bought it. Teak contains natural oils that repel moisture, resist cracking, and prevent the fungal growth that destroys lesser timbers. Left untreated, it weathers to an elegant silver-grey; fed with teak oil, it holds its warm honey tone year after year.
Critically, the best manufacturers source their teak from certified, sustainably managed plantations - ensuring that each piece purchased isn't contributing to deforestation, but to a managed cycle of cultivation and harvest. Barlow Tyrie, for instance, have been manufacturing in England since 1920, and their commitment to plantation teak and considered production is woven into the fabric of the company.
A Barlow Tyrie dining table bought today could realistically be on the same terrace in thirty years. That's the kind of calculus that makes expensive teak furniture genuinely economical - and genuinely sustainable.
Powder-Coated Aluminium: Longevity Without Compromise
Aluminium has a complicated sustainability story. The initial production of aluminium is energy-intensive - but once made, it is infinitely recyclable without any loss of quality. And in the context of outdoor furniture, high-grade powder-coated aluminium is one of the most durable, low-maintenance materials available.
Brands such as Cane-line and Fermob have built their reputations on precisely this material. Fermob, famously, manufacture their entire range in France - their Bistro chair and Luxembourg range are icons of considered design - using a powder-coating process that protects the aluminium against UV, salt air, and temperature extremes for decades. Cane-line's frames carry a five-year structural guarantee as standard, reflecting real confidence in the material's longevity.
When the frame of your furniture outlasts the cushion fabric (which it will), you can replace the cushions. When the cushion fabric outlasts the fashion (which it might), you can keep the frame and refresh the look. This modularity is sustainability in practice: the opposite of disposable design.
The Chelsea Lesson: Design for the Long View
What Chelsea 2026 is saying - through concrete innovation, through naturalistic planting, through gardens designed for human wellbeing rather than horticultural showmanship - is that the short view is no longer good enough. The gardens that win Gold aren't the ones that look impressive for a week; they're the ones that ask what a garden could mean over time, embedded in its landscape, giving back as much as it takes.
Outdoor furniture can ask the same question. A well-chosen piece of garden furniture doesn't just furnish a terrace - it anchors a space. It becomes part of the garden's character. You eat at it, entertain around it, watch seasons change from it. Over years, it earns its place in the landscape in the way that a Chelsea show garden earns its Gold.
That's not a luxury proposition. It's a responsible one.
Visit Us and See the Quality for Yourself
Our outdoor furniture showroom in Cobham, Surrey features a curated selection of luxury brands including Oxley's, Alexander Rose, Barlow Tyrie, Cane-line, and Fermob. There is no substitute for seeing craftsmanship in person - come and sit in the chairs, feel the weight of the frames, and let the quality speak for itself. We are less than five miles from RHS Wisley. You can also browse our full outdoor furniture collection at landscaping.co.uk.
Cedar Nursery, Horsley Road, Cobham, KT11 3JX. Open Monday to Saturday, 8:30am - 5pm. Free local delivery on orders over £100. Call 01932 862473 or visit landscaping.co.uk.