A wheelchair-accessible garden for people with spinal injuries has won best in show at the Chelsea flower show this year.
Horatio’s Garden is designed to be a sanctuary for those who may otherwise find gardens inaccessible, and to help people with spinal injuries to heal.
The layout aims to be immersive, calming and restorative, and the light, airy planting is designed to be the antithesis of a hospital ward. Plants used include irises and hydrangeas, which provide gentle pops of colour.
The garden will be relocated for the enjoyment of patients at the Princess Royal spinal injuries centre in Sheffield at the end of the annual gardening showcase. The Horatio’s Garden charity has garden projects at several other NHS spinal injury centres across the UK.
On receiving the top prize, the designers, Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg, said: “It’s unbelievable and still sinking in. It’s a really special garden for us because of the nature of the charity.
“Horatio’s is a charity about gardens and how they help on journeys of healing and so it feels absolutely right that it should win best in show. We are delighted for the charity, and we hope it helps to raise the profile of the incredible work they do and are delighted it will live on to form the heart of Horatio’s Garden Sheffield after the show.”
Gardens intended to aid recovery were a common theme at this year’s show. Also winning gold was Myeloma UK’s garden, which aims to raise money and awareness for the incurable but treatable blood cancer. Judges appreciated the rich, lush planting coupled with the strong message; the garden was designed to capture the eternal optimism of spring and give hope to those with the disease.
The Royal Horticultural Society chair of show garden judges, Marie-Louise Agius, said: “The standard of the show gardens this year was extremely high. What particularly stood out about the Horatio’s Garden was how the design had been driven by the end user, to be experienced by spinal-injury patients from a bed or wheelchair. The garden is uplifting, beautiful and considered, and for someone who has had a life-altering spinal injury it will provide them with a wonderful sanctuary. The brief and the garden was delivered at an exceptional level.”
There were a few firsts at the show this year, one being a mushroom exhibit being displayed in the Great Pavilion for the first time. Caley Bros, which sells edible mushroom kits, won the new design award for its display.
Weeds, or “resilient plants” as the RHS now asks gardeners to call them, were heavily featured at this year’s show. The gold-winning Centrepoint garden included dandelions, green alkanet, cleavers (also known as goosegrass), wood avens and daisies, as well as an upended tree. It won the best construction prize for its unusual look, the idea behind which was to shine a light on homelessness.
Chelsea flower show continues until Saturday 27 May.
