CHERUB: A life without walls at RHS Chelsea

A garden designed to increase awareness of HIV and the issues surrounding young people with HIV will be designed by Naomi Ferrett-Cohen for sponsor CHERUB at the 2018 RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

The garden – CHERUB: A Life without Walls – in the Space to Grow category, centres around a young person living with HIV and the journey they face. It explores the stigma and marginalisation many face and how it is essential to build confidence and skills and engage the public around testing and openness.

A white pod at the top of the garden represents the clinics the young people attend, a cocoon of safety from the outside world. The journey from the pod through the garden shows the journey towards a life of more freedom and the obstacles encountered along the way. The end of the journey features an open seating area symbolising a society where these young people are accepted without prejudice and feel happy and confident about opening up about their HIV without fear or judgement.

The garden is sponsored by CHERUB (which stands for Collaborative HIV Eradication of Reservoirs UK BRC) – this is a network of UK doctors, researchers and patients working together to find a cure for HIV infection.

The planting around the pod will utilize green tones with a hint of white while proceeding through the garden the planting will become warmer and brighter in colour, looser and less formal in structure.

Naomi Ferrett-Cohen is a Sussex based landscape and garden designer and the CHERUB garden will be her Chelsea debut. She has designed the garden with young people in mind, working in conjunction with HIV charity CHIVA. She will use over 1,000 plants supplied by Hortus Loci Ltd.

You can see more of Naomi’s work by visiting: http://www.naomiferrettcohen.com

We wish the Naomi and her team well as they prepare for Chelsea.