It is simply the world’s most renowned Flower Show and has the reputation and standing to reach millions of people.  Getting to show a garden there is a huge honour, and allows us to spread the Size of Wales message far and wide!  

After the show, the garden will live on and mature at Treborth Botanic Garden in Bangor, Gwynedd, allowing people to come and visit it for decades to come.

Studio Bristow has an inherent focus on sustainability in all their projects, so maximising that potential was a natural part of the design process.  Their first Chelsea Flower Show garden in 2016 was entirely repurposed with no waste, years before it became de rigueur to do so.

The rear wall that will only be used during Chelsea is entirely compostable after the show.  It’s made of natural local materials: coppiced hazel and cob render.  With help from the oyster mushrooms that will sprout from the timbers, the whole thing will decompose within a few years.

We are using only waste stone in the garden – offcuts from an Ynys Môn quarry.  

Timber is sustainably-milled Welsh larch and ash suffering from ash dieback.  The plants are all grown in the UK, with 99% of them being free of peat in the substrate.

The garden will grow on in its entirety unencumbered, allowing for the trees to sequester carbon naturally over their lifetimes.

We will be using 313 species of plants and fungi in our garden, reflecting the number of different species of tree that can occur in just one hectare of tropical forest.  

Our planting is chosen with the aim of inspiring awe and wonder at the diversity of plant life. One way of accentuating this is to maximise the discrepancies of scale.  To this end, there will be tall spires of columnar trees to walk amongst, while tiny detailed alpine plants mound among the rocks at your feet.  Cloud-like shrubs and the slender vertical stems of some tall herbaceous plants create a diaphanous effect, and the whole garden is peppered with a majority of yellow flowers, the colour of hope.

We chose to not recreate a tropical garden for two principal reasons.  

Firstly, from a sustainability standpoint, had we done so we would have had to import large specimens of tropical plants from around Europe, if not further afield, and store them in heated greenhouses.  Not very conducive to our goals!

Secondly, we were very keen that the garden be relatable to the viewer.  We didn’t want the acute issue of climate change to feel like a remote, exotic one, so using plants from our own climate zone reflects this aim.  The idea is to inspire the viewer to consider the diversity of life that exists in tropical forests, rather than producing an ersatz recreation of one.

Including a holly bush is a symbolic gestural link between traditions.  Our native holly, Ilex aquifolium, is emblematic in folklore since pre-Christian times, and the leaves of the Paraguay Holly, Ilex paraguariensis, have been cultivated by the indigenous Guaraní people since pre-European colonisation to make the now ubiquitous drink, Yerba mate.

So many things!  For one, we anticipate it being one of the most biodiverse show gardens in living memory due to the range of plants and fungi used.  

Further… making a self-composting fungus fence is certainly a first!

The shape of Wales will be visible, with the outline delineating the boundary between alpine and woodland edge planting.

The variety of traditional crafts showcased, from hazel hurdles and cob render to two different regional styles of dry stone walling (Pembrokeshire wedge walls and Caithness ‘Flag Fences’).

It is anticipated that, due to the rarity of the chosen species, the vast majority of the plants showcased will not feature in any other show garden this year. 

You can follow our journey to Chelsea and beyond through our social media platforms.  Come and say hello if you’re visiting the show, or visit the garden at Treborth in Bangor any time from early June.  

Please vote for us in the People’s Choice Award during show week!