The Weston Garden

We were delighted to return to the Chelsea Flower Show after 8 years, to make a garden in the centre of the marquee.

Celebrating 60 years of the Garfield Weston Foundation, the Weston Garden is an enclosed and romantic space that emphasises a rich diversity of texture, a carefully studied balance between enclosure and openness with an intimate retreat at its heart. It also balances modernity and tradition, using topiary, but not in a traditional form or in a traditional way. The garden is designed with four different entrances so that the public can see a number of different aspects of the garden. It is full of texture and variety with a strong over arching structure of evergreens.

It is a garden where everything to the smallest item is recycled. Many of the plants have been to Chelsea before and were borrowed for the duration of the show. Others will be specific to the show but will be reused afterwards. The space in the pavilion enables us to use a number of extraordinary plants that have been centrepieces of previous Chelsea gardens. The apparent maturity of the garden is fitting in celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Garfield Weston Foundation.

It is unusual for a garden of this scale at the flower show to have full public access - this emphasised the open approach of the Garfield Weston Foundation and the support it has given to charities across the UK, enabling this country’s treasures, whether wild and green spaces or art and architectural gems, to be more accessible to the public. The garden also reflected the foundation’s commitment to excellence and their partnership with the RHS for the new garden at RHS Bridgewater in Salford. As it was to some extent a collaboration with the RHS the garden wasn't judged- which was quite a relief really!

As with our previous 8 gardens at Chelsea, which all won gold medals, we collaborated with Crocus.