Kamelia Bin Zaal preps for the Chelsea Flower Show - in pictures

Her goal was not only to find the trees that would provide the wow-factor for The Beauty of Islam, her entry for the forthcoming 2015 Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show, but also to unearth the plants that might even help her win the competition’s ultimate prize.

The Beauty of Islam will also be the first Chelsea show garden to have been designed by an Emirati. It’s a prospect that Bin Zaal looks forward to with a mixture of nerves and excitement. “This is the gardening equivalent of the Oscars,” the Dubai-based designer explains.

Following an earlier trip to the Netherlands, where she ­went shopping for palms, Bin Zaal’s most recent trip allowed just four days to visit the finest nurseries in southern Spain to locate citrus, pomegranate and olive trees that will provide the living “structure” for her design.

“Normally, in most gardens, there are one or two trees that really stand out. We call them ‘hero trees’ and they’re the pivot around which the whole garden revolves,” explains the ­appropriately named Dave Root, the man responsible for finding and growing all of the plants for The Beauty of Islam.

During the course of her plant-hunting, Bin Zaal’s thinking about her plant palette has also been influenced by the discussions she’s had with her planting team.

A final visit to Spain, in March, will enable Bin Zaal to see how some of her smaller plants are progressing, but the time for choosing “hero plants” has now well and truly passed.

“I’ve had to do instant gardens for our show villas at Al Barari [in Dubai], so I’m aware of what’s needed to fill a garden and to put in the extra plants, but it starts to get very serious when you’ve really got to finalise,” Bin Zaal explains. “This is my first show garden ­anywhere and it’s more delicate at Chelsea, so having access to this kind of expertise has been enormously helpful.”

Emirati Kamelia Bin Zaal visits some garden nurseries in Elche, Alicante (SouthEast of Spain) to buy trees for the Chelsea Flower Show. Hosted by Miguel Basomba and Adam, plant hunters from ORNACOM. Kamelia and the other visitors browse around the nursery. Photos by Antonio Garcia for The National. Words by Nick Leech.