RHS Chelsea: What happens after the flower show?

"The annual event sees garden designers competing to earn coveted bronze, silver or gold medals with their imaginative landscapes and floral displays. Charity gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show have been funded by two anonymous philanthropists through Project Giving Back since 2022, with requirements for the gardens to be relocated or repurposed after the event something the RHS has mandated for all gardens since 2023. Gardens have gone to hospitals and health services, helped charity work, become community growing spaces or transformed areas for nature."

"The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) encourages designers to repurpose gardens after the flagship show, and has sent its own feature gardens to new homes since 2016. Last year, its Monty Don-designed "dog garden" went to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. It's not all chucking the remnants on the compost heap and packing the pots away - gardens will live on in a multitude of ways."

"Displays often have to be reimagined - dense planting schemes can be spread out to fill larger spaces, and the promise of a new garden can breathe life into a much wider area. Core Arts, a mental health charity in London which runs creative education classes for people referred by the NHS, including art, music and gardening, was already in discussions to take over an area of grass, brambles and wildflowers behind the church next to its building in Hackney."

"Nemone Mercer, Core Landscapes project director, said receiving their garden, designed by Andy Smith-Williams, had been "totally transformative" in kickstarting the outdoor space with p"

Chelsea Flower Show gardens are judged and then moved beyond the event through repurposing and relocation. The Royal Horticultural Society encourages designers to reuse gardens after the show and has transferred its own feature gardens to new homes since 2016. Charity gardens funded through Project Giving Back must be relocated or repurposed after the event, a requirement mandated for all gardens since 2023. Gardens have been sent to hospitals and health services, supported charity work, created community growing spaces, and transformed areas for nature. Repurposing can involve spreading dense planting schemes to fill larger spaces and reimagining designs to breathe life into wider areas. Core Arts in Hackney received a garden to help kickstart an outdoor space for mental health and creative education programs.

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