Written by:
March 19, 2026
As the days lengthen and the weather, finally, begins to improve, the countdown to RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 is underway. I returned from maternity leave in January and as I’m learning to juggle childcare responsibilities and a return to the busy day-to-day running of Project Giving Back, I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on what will be our final year of funding gardens for good causes at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
PGB was established to boost exposure and fundraising potential for UK charities after the Covid-19 pandemic, and to nurture and support the UK horticulture industry and the RHS Chelsea Flower Show (the RHS’s most important annual fundraising event). In 2026 we are celebrating the impact we have had on both with our first PGB Garden, designed by celebrated Provence-based designer James Basson.
When considering who we might approach to help us design a garden in our final year, we wanted to secure an established designer, unafraid to present a garden that would stop visitors in their tracks, unapologetic about putting the landscape of charitable giving front and centre at the show. The latest Charities Aid Foundation UK Giving Report, published on 16 March 2026, shows that while the British public donated an estimated £14 billion in 2025, there are six million fewer donors today compared to 10 years ago and this decline has cost charities an estimated £12.4 billion. Creative forms of philanthropic giving are needed now more than ever. We can no longer rely on traditional forms of fundraising to deliver the levels of voluntary income UK charities need to continue providing vital services. The model PGB has established over the last five years is a blueprint for experiential philanthropy that can, and should, inspire others to follow suit.
James Bason is known for his landscape-focused approach to design. He has a deep-rooted love of the land, and designs gardens that take direct inspiration from their surroundings, ensuring that they feel completely appropriate for their situation. His track-record of designing show gardens at RHS Chelsea speaks for itself with four Gold medals, and both a Best in Show and Best Construction award. He hasn’t presented a garden at RHS Chelsea since 2017.
We approached James very late in the process for delivering a large garden at the show this year but from our first conversation we felt he was a good fit. The design James presented was originally intended for a project that was not completed due to Covid 19 restrictions. It felt fitting that the design was being recycled for a charity established in the wake of the pandemic and its central theme of being an ever-changing resilient landscape, evolving organically with nature, spoke perfectly to our aims and ethos.
You can read more about the garden itself here. Preparations are now well underway and we have every confidence in the brilliant team that James is bringing to the project, alongside Mark Whyman, Peter Harkett and their skilled team of landscapers and problem solvers, and Dave Root and his knowledgeable team of plants people at Kelways. Planting specialist Marc O’Neill will be leading the planting on site and the brilliant Guy Valentine will be finishing the sandstone structures with a beautiful render. Bringing a show garden for RHS Chelsea to life takes a village, and just as we have witnessed over 60 PGB funded gardens being the product of collaboration, I am thoroughly enjoying being a part of this village in our final year.
Of course it wouldn’t be a PGB Garden without a relocation plan and ours is really exciting. We’re still in conversation with two separate locations - one in the North West of England and one in central London - about the ongoing life of this garden and I’m excited to release more details about that later in the spring. For now, I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone involved in this incredible garden - I know it will be a warm, enveloping celebration of the indelible impact Project Giving Back has had on RHS Chelsea and the UK’s charity sector. Roll on May!
Grant-making charity Project Giving Back (PGB) has announced seven of its final collection of gardens for good causes at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026. The remaining four gardens, all in the All About Plants category, will be announced in January 2026. From 2022 to 2026 PGB will have sponsored a total of 63 gardens for different charitable causes, all of which will be relocated or repurposed at sites around the UK.
The annual Gardens for Good Causes Exhibition at the Garden Museum in London will be open to visitors from 12 to 28 September, showcasing the ten charity gardens supported by Project Giving Back at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Project Giving Back has announced that it will fund five more gardens to raise awareness of UK-based causes at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025, bringing the total number of gardens it is supporting this year to ten. These include all four gardens in the All About Plants category, as well as one additional show garden designed by Nigel Dunnett.
Grant-making charity Project Giving Back (PGB) will fund a further cohort of gardens for UK charities at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025, all of which will be permanently relocated after the show to continue to benefit the good causes that have inspired them.
Project Giving Back supports gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and while the deadline (Friday 4th October 2024) for the 2026 Show Garden funding applications has now passed, we’re pleased to announce that we will be extending the deadline for the 2026 All About Plants funding category to Monday 4th November 2024.
Project Giving Back supports gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, and we are excited to announce that we are open to applications for funding for all categories listed on our website for 2026.
The annual Gardens for Good Causes Exhibition will be on display at the Garden Museum in London from 13 - 29 September
Since Project Giving Back (PGB) started funding gardens for good causes at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2022, our unique grant-making charity has had a significant impact - not only on the world-famous flower show and the charities who have used the opportunity to raise funds and awareness, but also on the communities where the gardens find permanent homes after the show has closed. All 60 gardens PGB will fund between 2022 and 2026 will have a life after RHS Chelsea in permanent locations around the UK.
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It is 30 years since Mark Fane built his first garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and this year will be the last. As Crocus bows out of the show, Mark reflects on their incredible legacy of designer partnerships that have delighted show visitors and viewers and inspired a new generation of designers, landscapers and nursery folk.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
House Nine Design and Project Giving Back helped raise over £15,000 to help those fleeing domestic abuse through the charity Furnishing Futures.
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.
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.
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.
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.
From 1 - 23 September 2022, we will be inviting expressions of interest for garden funding at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024.
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.
Hattie Ghaui has been appointed CEO of Project Giving Back, which is now a registered charity.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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