Rewilding Garden heads for RHS Chelsea

A garden that will show a naturally re-wilded landscape in south-west England will feature at the 2022 RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Designed by Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunt and built by Landscape Associates, ‘A Rewilding Britain Landscape‘ is sponsored by the Rewilding Britain Project Giving Back.

The inspiration for the garden is the incredible abundance, diversity and beauty that arises from the presence of what the once lost and now-reintroduced beaver brings to the British landscape.

The design will feature a brook flowing through a copse of hawthorn, hazel and field maples, beneath a winding old west-country stone wall. A dam and pool created by beavers with a lodge behind will sit below the wall. Water trickles through the dam and spreads out through a riparian meadow in which rejuvenating alders, goat and crack willow grow. An old timber walkway leads across the wetland meadow to a natural resting spot at the side of the pool.

Planting includes native wildflowers and grasses with marginal plants thronging the edge of the pool and streams and has been chosen to support and encourage wildlife.

This is the first time that the power of beavers has been displayed at Chelsea and will demonstrate how they tend the landscape while aiding biodiversity.

Adam and Lulu set up their design partnership almost 15 years ago. Both are passionate plant-lovers, environmentalists and landscape designers. They are known in the industry for working in collaboration with leading experts, putting sustainable practice and the land above all else.

The 2022 RHS Chelsea Flower Show will put native plants that benefit wildlife at centre stage and this will be one of the gardens embracing the wild and bringing nature back.

The garden is in the Show Garden category. RHS Chelsea runs from 24th to 28th May 2022.