Applications for 2025 funding are now closed.
Applications for 2025 funding are now closed.

Smaller

Show Gardens

Packed with gardening inspiration, the smaller show gardens are open to applications from designers who have previously exhibited at other RHS flower shows.

Our Brief

This is a category of show garden which we hope will attract new talent to the show as well as enabling designers who have been unable to find sponsors for their proposals at previous shows. We anticipate this category will also provide an opportunity for designers who have exhibited at other RHS shows and are keen to take on the challenge of Chelsea. The applicant must be willing to collaborate with UK charities to create a garden that will not only highlight their design skills but also impress Project Giving Back with their ability to work closely with a charity.

Who do we have in mind?

Landscape & garden designers who have already exhibited at other RHS flower shows and who want to design a show garden of approximately 10x 12 in size in collaboration with a UK charity

Our garden criteria

Partnering with a good cause

We encourage designers and charities to form a partnership before applying for funding from Project Giving Back. However, if you are yet to form a partnership between a designer and a good cause and would like to arrange a guidance call with the Project Giving Back team, please get in touch.

Contact us

Previous examples of gardens for good causes at Chelsea

View all gardens

Previous examples of gardens for good causes at Chelsea

High Maintenance Garden
Sue Ha
Motor Neurone Disease
Embroidered Minds Epilepsy Garden
Kati Crome
Embroidered Minds
Walker's Wharf Garden
Graham Bodle
Doncaster Deaf Trust
CWGC Centenary Garden
David Domoney
CWGC
The Resilience Garden
Sarah Eberle
Forestry Commission
Morgan Stanley Garden
Chris Beardshaw
NSPCC
Linklater Garden
Darren Hawkes
Maggie's
Lemon Tree Trust garden
Tom Massey
Lemon Tree Trust
Breast Cancer Now Garden
Ruth Wilmott
Breast Cancer UK
Myeloma UK Garden
John Everiss & Francesca Murrell
Myeloma
Donkey Sanctuary Garden
Christina Williams & Anne Prebens
Donkey Sanctuary
Space to Grow Garden
Naomi Ferrett-Cohen
Cherub HIV
CAMFED Garden
Jilayne Rickards
CAMFED
The Wedgwood Garden
Jo Thompson
Wedgwood
The M&G Garden
Cleve West
M&G
A Perfumer's Garden in Grasse
James Basson
L'Occitane
South African Protea Display
South African protea display - 2016
Hands Off Mangrove by Grow2Know

Partnering with a good cause

All About Plants is the only scheme that is for the specific benefit of horticultural charities. Applicants

We encourage designers and charities to form a partnership before applying for funding from Project Giving Back. However, if you are yet to form a partnership between a designer and a good cause and would like to arrange a guidance call with the Project Giving Back team, please get in touch.
Contact Us

Elisa Davies

Finance and Compliance Director
Project Giving Back

Laura Quinn

Digital Content Manager
Project Giving Back

Isabella Nunes da Costa

Project Lead
Project Giving Back

Jennie Spears

PR & Communications Consultant
Bloom PR & Communications

Hattie Ghaui

CEO
Project Giving Back

Application Process

2024 Application process

1st September '22

Open to expressions of interest

23rd September ‘22

Deadline for expressions of interest

w/c 26th September ‘22

Applicants screened and long-list ready for review by PGB panel

3rd October '22

Long list of applicants invited to submit written brief + moodboards for Monday 28th November

  • Final meeting with the Project Giving Back Panel.
  • Successful applicants invited to prepare full application for the RHS selection process

w/c 12th December ‘22

Shortlist of applicants informed and given a grant to evolve application into formal presentation including concept sketch, masterplan, planting plan, budget breakdown and storytelling strategy for the good cause

27th/28th February ‘23 (TBC)

Shortlisted applicants meet and present to PGB selection panel

April ‘23

PGB funding choices selected and informed

25th May ‘23

PGB Workshop at The Garden Museum

May ‘23

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024 applications open

September ‘23

RHS selection panel decisions (exact date TBC)

October ‘23

PGB funding contracts and payment schedules in place

2024 Application process

1st September '22

Open to expressions of interest

23rd September ‘22

Deadline for expressions of interest

w/c 26th September ‘22

Applicants screened and long-list ready for review by PGB panel

3rd October '22

Long list of applicants invited to submit written brief + moodboards by Monday 28th November

  • Final meeting with the Project Giving Back Panel.
  • Successful applicants invited to prepare full application for the RHS selection process

w/c 12th December ‘22

Shortlist of applicants informed and given a grant to evolve application into formal presentation including concept sketch, masterplan, planting plan, budget breakdown and storytelling strategy for the good cause

27th/28th February ‘23 (TBC)

Shortlisted applicants meet and present to PGB selection panel

April ‘23

PGB funding choices selected and informed

25th May ‘23

PGB Workshop at The Garden Museum

May ‘23

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024 applications open

September ‘23

RHS selection panel decisions (exact date TBC)

October ‘23

PGB funding contracts and payment schedules in place

2025 Application process

22nd September '23

Open to expressions of interest

3rd November ‘23

Deadline for expressions of interest

early November ‘23

Applicants screened and long-list ready for review by PGB panel

w/c 18th December '23

Long list of applicants invited to submit written brief + moodboards by Monday 18th December

27th/28th February ‘24 (TBC)

Shortlisted applicants meet and present to PGB selection panel

April ‘24

PGB funding choices selected and informed

25th May ‘24

PGB Workshop at The Garden Museum

September ‘24

RHS selection panel decisions (exact date TBC)

October ‘24

PGB funding contracts and payment schedules in place

Visit the 2023 gardens for good causes

Learn moreLearn more

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

News

Interview

Interview: Rosie Atkins, recipient of an RHS Elizabeth Medal of Honour (EMH)

On Tuesday 26 March 2024, Rosie Atkins received an RHS Elizabeth Medal of Honour (EMH), in recognition of her contribution to horticulture. Rosie talks about her career and what receiving the EMH means to her.

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.

Interview

Interview: Rosie Atkins, recipient of an RHS Elizabeth Medal of Honour (EMH)

On Tuesday 26 March 2024, Rosie Atkins received an RHS Elizabeth Medal of Honour (EMH), in recognition of her contribution to horticulture. Rosie talks about her career and what receiving the EMH means to her.

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.

View All