Supporting

good causes

designers

RHS Chelsea

Gardens for
good causes

Project Giving Back gives charitable organisations in the UK the chance to exhibit a show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, to promote their cause while supporting the horticultural industry.

Funding applications for 2025 will be open until 3 November 2023.
From 2022-2026, we will fund and support
60 good causes
partnered with
60 designers
to create
60 gardens

By taking a charity to Chelsea, you’re taking it to a gobal platform, which for CAMFED was great. The exposure, the feedback and the value that they got from exhibiting at Chelsea was immense - so I couldn’t think of a more fulfilling thing to do as a designer

Jilayne Rickards
Garden Designer
View all gardens

Our 2023 gardens for good causes

We supported 15 gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023 that celebrate and draw attention to the work of charitable organisations, community interest groups, and educational programmes in the UK.

Centre for Mental Health's The Balance Garden

Designed by:
Jon Davies and Steve Williams
Good Cause

Choose Love Garden

Designed by:
Jane Porter
Good Cause

Horatio's Garden

Designed by:
Harris Bugg Studio
Good Cause

Samaritans' Listening Garden

Designed by:
Darren Hawkes
Good Cause

School Food Matters Garden

Designed by:
Harry Holding
Good Cause

The Centrepoint Garden

Designed by:
Cleve West
Good Cause

The Fauna & Flora Garden

Designed by:
Jilayne Rickards
Good Cause

The Myeloma UK - 'A Life Worth Living' Garden

Designed by:
Chris Beardshaw
Good Cause

The National Brain Appeal’s 'Rare Space' Garden

Designed by:
Charlie Hawkes
Good Cause

The Natural Affinity Garden for Aspens

Designed by:
Camellia Taylor
Good Cause

The RSPCA Garden

Designed by:
Martyn Wilson
Good Cause

The Royal Entomological Society Garden

Designed by:
Tom Massey
Good Cause

The Sadler's Wells East Garden

Designed by:
Alexa Ryan-Mills
Good Cause

The Talitha Arts Garden

Designed by:
Joe & Laura Carey
Good Cause

The Teapot Trust Elsewhere Garden

Designed by:
Semple Begg
Good Cause
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A Rewilding Britain Landscape
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Hands Off Mangrove by Grow2Know
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A Textile Garden for Fashion Revolution
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Core Arts Front Garden Revolution
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Mothers for Mothers Garden
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Alder Hey Urban Foraging Station
More info
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RAF Benevolent Fund 'Strongest Link' Garden
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St Mungo's Putting Down Roots Garden
More info
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New Blue Peter Garden: Discover Soil
More info
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RNLI Garden
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Mind Garden
More info
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Wilderness Foundation UK Garden
More info
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A Rewilding Britain Landscape
More info
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Hands Off Mangrove by Grow2Know
More info
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A Textile Garden for Fashion Revolution
More info
close
Core Arts Front Garden Revolution
More info
close
Mothers for Mothers Garden
More info
close
Alder Hey Urban Foraging Station
More info
close
RAF Benevolent Fund 'Strongest Link' Garden
More info
close
St Mungo's Putting Down Roots Garden
More info
close
New Blue Peter Garden: Discover Soil
More info
close
RNLI Garden
More info
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Mind Garden
More info
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Wilderness Foundation UK Garden
More info

A lasting legacy

All the gardens we support at RHS Chelsea Flower Show are relocated or repurposed after the show to live on as a lasting legacy for the good causes they are inspired by. Some can be publicly visited, while others live on at schools and other private locations as learning tools for a future generation of gardeners.

Explore their stories and find out more about their relocations by clicking on the map.

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Fundraising exposure on a quintessentially British scale

RHS Chelsea Flower Show attracts a huge amount of media coverage worldwide.

More about Chelsea
3.6 million
The RHS website's page views during 2023 show week
500,000+
Engagements with RHS social media posts during show week
800,000+
Engagements with posts (from the RHS and others) containing #RHSChelsea
2.8 million
Peak audience reached on the RHS' official broadcast partner BBC's 13 hours of coverage
10,000
Times the RHS Chelsea Flower Show was featured in broadcast, print and online articles
956 million
Combined circulation of print & online coverage  during May 2023
(show week)

Funding categories

All About Plants
Smaller Show Gardens
Large Show Gardens

Sanctuary Gardens

Who can apply:

The deadline for 2025 funding has passed.

Show Gardens

Who can apply:

For the smaller show gardens that we fund, RHS Chelsea Flower Show experience is not essential, while it is for the largest show gardens that we fund. The deadline for 2025 funding has passed.

All About Plants

Who can apply:

Designers who are new to Chelsea, specialist nurseries, plant societies or botanic gardens, in partnership with a UK-registered charity, community interest company or not-for-profit organisation. The deadline for 2025 funding has passed.

Sanctuary Gardens

Who can apply:

The Sanctuary Garden category is open both to designers with previous experience of RHS Chelsea and new designers that have not created an RHS Chelsea garden before. Due to the complex nature of the show site, designers with no previous experience should work with an experienced show garden contractor.

Show Gardens

Who can apply:

The show garden category is open to both established designers with previous Chelsea experience, and up and coming designers who have exhibited at other RHS shows and are now keen to take on the challenge of Chelsea.

All About Plants

Who can apply:

This category is open to any garden designer, ambitious nursery, plant society or botanical garden with a passion and expertise for putting plants together.

It is our intention that every All About Plants garden team will be assigned a PGB mentor to help guide them through the exhibiting process at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Our trustees

We understand the significance of exhibiting at RHS Chelsea Flower Show so we’ve brought together some of the brightest and best in the horticultural world to help guide entrants.

Get to know us

Alexandra Denman

Independent Project Manager
,
& former RHS Chelsea Flower Show Manager

Alex is an experienced horticulturist and was the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Manager and then Head of Shows Development, from 2006 to 2014. During this time, she curated the horticultural content of the show, overseeing hundreds of exhibits. She worked closely with designers, charities and sponsors to manage the complexities of exhibiting and help them realise their dreams. She is passionate about the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the opportunities it presents for designers and plants people to showcase their talents and appreciates the outstanding benefits it can provide for charities and sponsors. Alex is a Trustee of the Royal Windsor Rose & Horticultural Society and is now an independent event consultant and project manager.

Alexandra Denman

Independent Project Manager
& former RHS Chelsea Flower Show Manager

Arne Maynard

Founder & Principal Designer
,
Arne Maynard Garden Design

Central to Arne's work as an international garden designer is his ability to identify and draw out the essence of a place, something that gives his gardens a particular quality of harmony and belonging. He has a collaborative approach to design and believes that to succeed, a garden must relate and respond to its surrounding landscape, its history and to the buildings within and around its confines, as well as to the needs of its owners. Arne is an RHS Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal and Best in Show winning designer and is hailed by his profession as one of most important garden designers working today.

Arne Maynard

Founder & Principal Designer
Arne Maynard Garden Design

Mark Fane

Chief Executive of Crocus
,
& RHS Vice President

Mark is Chief Executive of Crocus and has worked with many of the top garden designers over the last 20 years, building over 30 show gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and winning 29 Gold Medals and 11 Best in Shows. Between 2009 and 2019 he was a Trustee on the RHS Council as well as serving on the RHS Commercial Board, the Investment Board and the Nominations and Governance Board. He became a Vice-President of the RHS in 2019. He is currently the Chairman of the Garden Museum and a Trustee of the Chatsworth House Trust.

Mark Fane

Chief Executive of Crocus
& RHS Vice President

Rosie Atkins

Curator, Editor &
,
RHS Vice President

Rosie started her journalistic career at the Sunday Times.  In 1992 she launched and edited the award-winning magazine Gardens Illustrated leaving to become Curator of Chelsea Physic Garden in 2001. During that time she served on the Council of the Linnean Society and the Royal Horticultural Society where she is now a Vice-President. Rosie is a founder trustee of London Gardens’ Network; chairman emeritus of RHS Woody Plant Committee and Trustee of Great Dixter Charitable Trust.

Rosie Atkins

Curator, Editor &
RHS Vice President

A few frequently asked questions

Can I apply if I have no prior experience of designing a garden at Chelsea?

Yes. While experience of designing and / or building a show garden is beneficial, we are keen to encourage new talent and do not require Chelsea experience in some of our funding categories. Every design that PGB commits to funding then goes before the RHS selection panel, who is likely to favour those who have exhibited at one of the other RHS shows like RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival or RHS Flower Show Tatton Park.. So, for Show Garden applications, you have a better chance of being accepted if you have designed a garden at one of the other RHS shows. However, please do not let this prevent you from applying - the category 'All About Plants' is designed to encourage new creative talent and we are keen to hear from all interested designers.

How does the Project Giving Back selection process relate to the RHS Selection Process?

Project Giving Back is not an alternative to the RHS selection process. Our aim is to identify interesting designers, nurseries and horticultural groups and encourage them to apply for PGB funding in partnership with a good cause. If you are successful in being selected by Project Giving Back, you will still need to apply to the RHS in the usual way and PGB funding is not a guarantee of space allocation at the show.


If I am turned down for PGB funding can I reapply in future years?

Yes. We would encourage you to reapply to the PGB funding application process with a new concept and design. If you are not successful in receiving PGB funding, you may of course continue with an application to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and we would encourage you to find an alternative source of funding.

View More FAQs

Meet Our Mentors

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Learn More
Use your knowledge and experience to give back

Become a mentor

We are looking for volunteer mentors to work alongside our Project Director and trustees to give advice and support via webinars and blogs that will be shared on our website. 

Get in touch to express an interest in becoming a PGB mentor. 

Contact Us

Elisa Davies

Finance and Compliance Director
,
Project Giving Back

Richard Curle

Managing Director
,
Landscape Associates

Marc O'Neil

Head Gardener
,
Maggie’s at The Royal Marsden

Sarah Eberle

Chartered Landscape Architect and FLI
,
Sarah Eberle Landscape

Laura Quinn

Digital Content Manager
,
Project Giving Back

Katie Tait

PGB Mentor, Communications Director at Maggie’s
,
Maggie's Centres

Journal

Inspiration

Want to know how to attract and retain really great women? There’s a lot to learn from ‘Project Giving Back’

For the last 20+ years I’ve been celebrating IWD in the corporate world … a world where we’ve used the day to celebrate the progress and achievements being made. And that’s been important because, let’s face it, there are still today material discrepancies in the number of women in senior and leadership roles, and in gender pay. Corporates now recognise the issue and, in most cases, are working hard to address the imbalances. However, targets of 40% of women on Boards and an 8% gender pay gap shows there is still a long way to go, and it’s a nut that hasn’t been cracked.

News

This year’s All About Plants designs revealed

We are delighted to be supporting all six of the All About Plants gardens at RHS Chelsea this May. These small gardens use the power of plants to highlight the work of some amazing charitable causes and showcase new designers and specialist growers and nurseries.

Inspiration

There’s hope in a garden

Project Giving Back exists to amplify the work of charitable causes in the UK. We fulfil our purpose by funding gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The gardens are first a catalyst for engagement at the world-renowned Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show, before being relocated or repurposed to permanent sites across the UK creating an ongoing legacy and benefit to the causes and their communities.

Inspiration

RHS Gardens for the Future conference

Trees, water and a heartwarming dose of joy were the main topics of conversation at the RHS Gardens for the Future press conference this week.

News

Show & Sanctuary Gardens announced for RHS Chelsea 2024

Project Giving Back (PGB) will support 15 gardens for good causes at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024, including seven show gardens and two sanctuary gardens that have been announced by the RHS today.

News

Application process and timeline explained for 2025 garden funding

We are now accepting expressions of interest from charities and designers interested in applying to create a fully funded show garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025. This follows our recent announcement that Project Giving Back is extending its programme of funding for gardens for good causes until 2026. Here we explain in more detail the stages and timeline for the application process.

News

Announcing extended support of gardens for good causes at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Project Giving Back (PGB) intends to continue its support of gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2025 and 2026. Expressions of interest for 2025 funding can be submitted via the Project Giving Back website from Friday 22 September to Friday 3 November 2023. All gardens supported by PGB are repurposed in permanent locations around the UK after the show as ongoing legacies for the causes that inspired them.

News

Garden Museum to present gardens for good causes exhibition

We are excited to be back at the Garden Museum in September with a two week exhibition celebrating the 15 gardens supported by PGB at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023. All our 2023 gardens for good causes are being relocated to permanent homes throughout the UK.

Inspiration

Too good to miss at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year

My first visit to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show site during the build always blows my mind. With 25 show gardens this year, the compact site feels full of activity, machinery and a LOT of people in high vis.

News

2022 Impact Summary

Project Giving Back offers a form of creative philanthropy in which good causes receive a gift of opportunity rather than direct funding. Wide ranging benefits include opportunities for extensive press and social media coverage, hosting exclusive events for potential donors and direct engagement with thousands of show visitors. We asked our 2022 garden teams to tell us how their experience at RHS Chelsea 2022 has impacted their charity so far.

Inspiration

Here’s to a hopeful International Women’s Day

Every International Women’s Day, thousands of “Happy IWD” messages are sent and received. Don’t get me wrong, I’m at the front of the queue when it comes to wanting to celebrate the achievements of women, past, present and future, but when it comes to international anything day/week/month, ‘happy’ is not often what I feel. While I applaud organisations for using it as a vehicle for highlighting change still needed, every year, there’s a part of me that feels frustrated because the very existence of a day is evidence that equality is still being strived for.

Inspiration

Gardens for Good Causes podcast: Successful PR & comms campaign planning

Speaking at the PGB 2023 Exhibitor Workshop, Katie Tait, Director of Communications at Maggie’s and PGB Mentor, chats to some of our 2022 cohort about the challenges of running successful PR campaigns in the crowded Chelsea media space.

Inspiration

Project Giving Back and House Nine Design helped raise over £15,000 to help domestic abuse charity Furnishing Futures

House Nine Design and Project Giving Back helped raise over £15,000 to help those fleeing domestic abuse through the charity Furnishing Futures.

News

Full list of 2023 gardens for good causes revealed 

We are delighted to reveal further good causes we will support next year with the announcement of the All About Plants and Sanctuary Gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023.

News

RHS Chelsea 2023 Show Gardens announced

Following a hugely successful inaugural year in 2022, we will support more gardens for good causes in 2023. They will be presented at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, before being repurposed and relocated to their permanent homes across the UK. These include seven Show Gardens announced by the RHS. All gardens we support are inspired by UK charities and will live on after the show as a lasting legacy for their individual good causes - as teaching gardens, community spaces and other beneficial green spaces.

News

Gardens for Good Causes 2022 exhibition at The Garden Museum

The Garden Museum will host a special exhibition, from 30 September - 6 October 2022, to celebrate the twelve gardens for good causes supported by Project Giving Back that were presented at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022.

News

PGB is now open to expressions of interest for 2024

To help applicants plan a submission for 2024 funding, we are sharing more information about the questions that will be asked in our expression of interest form.

News

Funding applications for 2024 gardens to open

From 1 - 23 September 2022, we will be inviting expressions of interest for garden funding at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024.

Interview

Looking back on RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022

RHS Chelsea 2022 was a vintage year and Project Giving Back is proud to have played its part. Hattie Ghaui, CEO of Project Giving Back, reflects on the charity's first RHS Chelsea Flower Show, celebrates some of the incredible success stories, and looks ahead to the next milestone in the charity's Chelsea journey.

News

Charity status and new CEO confirmed

Hattie Ghaui has been appointed CEO of Project Giving Back, which is now a registered charity.

Interview

The road to Chelsea - what goes into creating a show garden

Once our charities and garden designers have had their design accepted by the RHS, then it’s all systems go. There is a huge amount of organisation involved in creating a show garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. As former RHS Chelsea Flower Show Manager and RHS Head of Shows Development, our advisory panel member Alexandra Denman is perfectly placed to provide insight into the many things that go into bringing together a successful show garden.

Interview

How Project Giving Back is funded

It is thanks to the generosity of our Founders that Project Giving Back exists to give good causes the opportunity to have a presence at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Here our Project Director, Hattie Ghaui, explains more about how our gardens are funded.

Interview

‘Our story so far’ with Chair of our Advisory Panel, Rosie Atkins

When Project Giving Back was first conceived at the beginning of last year, Rosie Atkins was an obvious choice to be invited to get involved. Rosie began her career in journalism at the Sunday Times and 30 years ago launched Gardens Illustrated magazine. After ten years as editor, she left to become Curator of Chelsea Physic Garden. She has ​​chaired various RHS committees and served on the boards of several charities. Here Rosie tells us what made her want to be part of Project Giving Back and why she thinks gardening and good causes are such a good fit.

News

New category of plant-focused gardens announced

We are thrilled to announce the good causes and designers behind four new All About Plants gardens, supported by Project Giving Back at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2022.

News

A first look at gardens supported by Project Giving Back in 2022

Project Giving Back will support 12 gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May 2022. Today we can reveal seven of those gardens, with more to be announced later in January. All gardens supported by Project Giving Back will be unveiled to show visitors and viewers before being relocated to their permanent homes across the UK in summer 2022.

Inspiration

What we loved about the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2021

For the first time in the show’s 108-year history, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show was held in autumn this year. The sun shone all week and the whole experience was one of relaxed, late summer contentment. We popped along to discover more about how the greatest flower show on Earth offers an unparalleled platform for good causes to tell the world about their work.

News

Project Giving Back announced

We're so pleased to be able to announce a new and unique organisation that will provide funding for gardens inspired by UK charities and not-for-profit organisations at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

View All

All of our children are in need of a little extra TLC. Amid their busyness of day-to-day life, this garden is somewhere the children will be able to find small pockets of inner silence which will allow healing and help them to feel more positive, productive and to be kind.

Headteacher
Alec Reed Academy in London

Once visitor told us she felt able now to talk about the fact that her daughter had attempted suicide, something she had been hiding from friends, and was in denial about. It was a heart rending moment but she genuinely looked as though a weight had been lifted. The garden helped her to do that.

Samaritans volunteer steward

The opportunity to have a garden at Chelsea truly was the sort of gift that money cannot buy. We were introduced to a completely new pool of people who have now started their journey supporting our work and doing what they can to advocate and support displaced people.

Philli Boyle
Director of Partnerships, Choose Love

Having a garden at RHS Chelsea was game-changing for Teapot Trust. Hopes were exceeded with messaging, national coverage, public engagement, celebrity patrons, new partnerships and new donors.

Sarah Randell
Executive Director, Teapot Trust

Not only did it allow us to raise awareness around the critical issue of youth homelessness but also generated a positive response in terms of support. We're now able to transform an outside space at one of our hostels creating a lasting legacy of The Centrepoint Garden that will be experienced by the residents and all the team who work there.

Orla Constant
Relationships Director, Centrepoint UK

Chelsea was an incredible opportunity for our small charity to have a large platform. It was a mighty project to take on, but its lasting impact will go well beyond the show itself, and we will be appreciating the benefits for years to come. The garden started at Chelsea but its legacy for Talitha Arts has only just begun.

Jenna Thorne
Executive & Artistic Director, Talitha Arts

The garden definitely made a statement and it was a real collective effort to bring it to life. Relocating it into our community will bring lasting benefits, heal old wounds and create opportunities for meaningful conversation for many years to come.

Tayshan Hayden-Smith
Co-Founder & Director, Grow2Know

My garden is so tiny so it is brilliant to have a school garden.

Student
Age 9, who attends the Henry Maynard School where Wilderness Foundation UK Garden is now located.

The relocated garden is raising Mind’s profile amongst partner organisations in Furness, their work in the eco/conservation space has grown and they’re reaching more people. The area now has street cleaning done by the council, which is transformative for an area that has not had that service to date.

Georgi Peyok
Special Events Manager, Mind

Now installed at Alder Hey in the Park, the garden provides a haven for wellbeing and togetherness for all families and staff at the hospital. It will also be openly welcoming to the wider community, encouraging local residents to benefit from this unique garden.

Fiona Ashcroft
CEO, Alder Hey Children’s Charity

Being asked to be involved in the Chelsea Flower Show was a defining moment in my life. To see my darkest times celebrated in such a beautiful way has redefined my core, showing me that a flower can bloom anywhere if you let it.

Faris Khalifa
Mind media volunteer and writer

I couldn’t have wished for a more reliable, steady and fair sponsor than PGB. The richness and diversity brought to the show from the charities supported by PGB is immense and Chelsea would be a poorer place without them.

Jilayne Rickards
Garden Designer