RBC Brewin Dolphin returns to RHS Chelsea

A main avenue show garden designed by award-winning designer Paul Hervey-Brookes, will feature a garden inspired by a young couple at the 2023 RHS Chelsea Flower Show for sponsor RBC Brewin Dolphin.

The RBC Brewin Dolphin Garden will feature a design for a young couple, who have drawn on the experience and lessons of their grandparents to create a garden that provides habitat and allows biodiversity to flourish.

Sustainability will be at the heart of the design with everything seen on the garden either on loan or due to be re-homed when the Chelsea Flower Show concludes.

Designer, Paul Hervey-Brookes will be mentoring Claire Dawson, horticulturist, into the world of garden creation at the Show.

Paul said: “I’m honoured to have been chosen to design the RBC Brewin Dolphin garden again for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023. This year I’m using a diverse range of plants and materials to create a young couple’s garden to last a lifetime with a message that really resonates with me, around the importance of passing knowledge and lessons on to the next generation.”

The garden will be richly herbaceous with structural planting from topiary shapes and shrubs providing a solid backbone to the plot. Three porcelain sculptures by Parisian ceramicist Gregory Tchalikian mark a focal point to the central terrace. The garden will be dressed using Fermob’s 1900 collection which is steeped in history, with spiral lines inspired by the wrought iron balconies of Parisian buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries. Fermob is the last company to be able to manufacture such products in its own workshops, with the scrolls and rings forged by hand.

A pavilion, inspired by historical architectural form, uses the traditional vernacular technique of pegged oak to create the main body of the structure with blackened steel ‘leaves’ overlapping each other to provide a modern sculptural roof. The pavilion oak structure is a bespoke piece, based on the dimensions of the Oak Porch No.11, created by the UK’s leading oak building manufacturer Border Oak with a roof section created by Alkin Engineering.

Business development director at RBC Brewin Dolphin and chairman of the National Garden Scheme, Rupert Tyler, is delighted to be able to pass on experience and knowledge to the next generation, which is now more important than ever: “Here at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, a key date in the British summer calendar, we have a great opportunity to showcase this. Much like gardening, if you can cultivate your finances with careful planning and the right advice, you can create a thriving environment for your future generations to inherit and enjoy. It’s wonderful to think that – through the careful selection of plants and materials – a garden like this will stand the test of time to be enjoyed for many years to come“, he said.

Paul (pictured left) is renowned for creating classically English landscapes and gardens with rich, multi-layered habitats. His plant-focused philosophy is rooted in his early training at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh and subsequent garden experiences in the UK and abroad.

No stranger to RHS Chelsea main avenue, Paul has created show gardens for the past 10 years achieving 12 Gold medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and RHS Chatsworth. He is also an RHS Gardens Judge and Mentor for the Young Designer of the Year Competition at RHS Tatton and the first-time designer ‘Balcony & Container’ gardens category at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Picture credits: Garden design ©Paul Hervey-Brookes; Image of Paul ©Reckless Gardener.