Your community could win RHS Chelsea garden
A nationwide scheme has launched on The One Show for a community, anywhere in Britain, to win an RHS Chelsea Flower Show Garden. This is the first time that this national initiative has been launched and any community in the UK can apply to have a public space greened up – from schools, hospitals, and community centres to hospices, resident groups, gardening groups and allotments.
The scheme will see the plants and other elements of the ‘RHS Greening Grey Britain Garden‘, designed by Nigel Dunnett, live on in a public space to be loved and enjoyed by a local community. The initiative is part of the RHS’ Greening Grey Britain Campaign to turn grey, unloved spaces into green, planted up spaces, for the nation’s health, happiness and for the environment and wildlife.
Community groups across the UK can enter for the chance to transform a plot of up to 250 square metres that can be accessed by the public.
The judges, award-winning designer Nigel Dunnett, One Show presenter Christine Walkden and RHS chief horticulturist Guy Barter, will be looking for imagination and zest for making a difference by planting up a garden, with plenty of benefit for residents, the general environment and wildlife.
“We want to see how this garden will bring people together to build and maintain a fabulous planting for the benefit of all,” explains Guy. “We would like maximum inclusivity so submissions should show how they will involve as many people as possible.
“If you live in an urban neighbourhood, a community group might want to turn an area of closely mown grass into a garden that will provide more resources for wildlife. Or parents may come together to make an area of a school’s grounds into a garden, there are numerous opportunities,” he added.
Gardens, nature, plants and horticulture have never been needed more in our towns and cities, points out Nigel who stresses that garden spaces are no longer a decorative ‘nice-to-have’ but a core and essential element in the toolkit to create healthy cities and livable places: “The RHS Greening Grey Britain Garden demonstrates and celebrates the multiple benefits of plants and gardens in even the smallest of areas. It’s fantastic that this Garden will live on after RHS Chelsea to benefit a community. We want to help make the winning plot an important and appreciated part of the local environment,” he said.
A contractor will prepare the site for the Garden to be relocated after the end of RHS Chelsea Flower Show in early June. Nigel, Guy and a team from the RHS will garden with local residents to create the new community garden.
So come on all you communities out there, this is a fantastic opportunity to gain something really special for your environment that will benefit not only the community but wildlife as well. To enter visit www.rhs.org.uk/GGBcompetition or email GGBchelsea@rhs.org.uk
Pictured above: Greening Grey Britain show garden designed for RHS Chelsea by Nigel Dunnett.
