The Glory of the Garden
Creating an RHS Show Garden
Kipling’s allegorical poem of England as a glorious garden was set in a time when
‘…a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,’
was created and maintained by
‘…the gardeners, the men and 'prentice boys
Told off to do as they are bid and do it without noise’
From The Glory of the Garden by Rudyard Kipling
Today, most of us tend our gardens unaided, but reap significant benefits from the therapeutic nature of working with plants and creating an open air environment which relaxes and stimulates in equal measure.
Many of us also enjoy visiting flower shows to admire, and be inspired by the glorious gardens created by skilled designers and knowledgeable plants men and women. How do they do it?
So welcome Sarah ‘Rosegrows’ Collings for a story of what it is really like to create a show garden.
Sarah writes:
In January 2023, I had been studying Landscape Architecture for about four months. I was on a conversion course because I wanted to change careers, but so far everything we had done at university was theoretical: we made designs, but we would never build them. So I was pretty interested when I saw the chance to design and build a show garden at the prestigious RHS Flower Show Tatton Park. The theme was “sensory Long Borders”.
In spring, I heard that I’d been accepted. I was so excited, but I quickly learned that exhibiting at an RHS Show is quite the undertaking. Did I find sponsorship first, order the plants, or sow seeds? How would I build the thing? The more information we got from the RHS the more things I realised I had to do.
About a month before the show, a close friend of mine said to me, “I’m enjoying your increasingly manic [Instagram] posts about Tatton Park.” Her comment didn’t worry me, but it made me feel ‘seen’. Preparing for the flower show was manic. It was daunting, it was frightening and at times I was completely overwhelmed. I am really proud of the garden and I learned so much - about the RHS, about plants, about myself.
As I reflect on that experience, here are some of the lessons I am most grateful for.
Lesson 1 - Be humble and be persistent
Preparing for the show is not like normal gardening, which I consider relaxing. A show garden requires skills in project management, horticulture and design but, for me, the biggest challenge was the mental barrier: I just didn’t think I would be able to do it.
It’s a humbling experience to wake up in the morning, feel sure you are unable to do something, and then spend the next eight or nine hours diligently working on it anyway. Reasoning with myself that “everything will be fine” just didn’t work. I just had to accept that maybe it would be a complete disaster, but nevertheless, I was going to keep doing it anyway.
Lesson 2 - Judge success on your own terms
One of my biggest fears was that I would “fail” and it would all go wrong. So before the show, I took some time to reflect on why I was doing this thing in the first place.
I wanted to take a design all the way from an initial idea to completion.
I was trying to learn as much as possible, particularly about plants.
I wanted to meet people, network, raise my profile and progress my career as a new designer. I hoped this would give me a competitive edge when applying for future work.
And, of course, I wanted people who came to the show to like my garden and learn something about plants.
I loved my garden, but the feedback from the RHS judges and mentors suggested that they didn’t like it. The judges gave it a bronze medal, and said it was unclear, too ambitious and complicated. I felt disappointed. Did “only” getting bronze mean I hadn’t done well?
Returning to my own goals assured me that wasn’t the case. Actually, getting critiqued from the judges meant I could learn a lot, which is exactly what I wanted.
In addition, while the judges didn’t connect to the concept, other people did. I got to speak to loads of visitors about the garden and share it on social media.
Lesson three: what kind of designer are you?
Months before the show, my personal tutor at university asked me what kind of Landscape Architect I wanted to be. This would have been a great opportunity to pitch myself as, say, a future leader, but I couldn't answer. I didn't feel like I even knew the options. However, it was such a good question that I've been thinking about it ever since.
Tatton gave me the beginning of an answer. When I finished the garden, I could see a lot of myself in it. Most show gardens are built by professionals, but I loved working with my friends and family (image left). It was rewarding to bring people into the event who had never been before.
I was also proud that I produced so little waste: all the structures in my garden were made from recycled metal (see images below)…
… I grew my plants in peat free soil and, thanks to sponsorship, donated the plants and tools to the Gatis community garden. https://www.gatiscommunityspace.co.uk/our-history/
My design aimed to create the garden of a botanist who wanted to observe how plants used their senses to react to external triggers. This building process reminded me a lot of my experiences doing drama as a teenager and working in set design. Having worked in education, it’s not surprising that I chose an educational theme (if you’ve got people’s attention you might as well teach them something, right!?)
I wonder if it’s possible to work out what kind of designer you are without actively designing? It reminds me of a Picasso quote: “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” When the RHS judges marked me down because my design was too ambitious, I had to take it as a compliment. As a designer, I want to be ambitious, as well as dramatic, engaging, sustainable, and inclusive.
Final thoughts
I gained so much practical experience from working with suppliers, growing my own plants and meeting other designers. One of my key goals was to further my design career. I exceeded my expectations when the border was featured on Gardeners World and on international news sites. A brilliant highlight!
Left: Sarah with Frances Tophill, filming for BBC Garders’ World
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001nxvf/gardeners-world-2023-episode-17 Sarah’s garden features at 20.56 minutes in.
Creating a show garden - even a small one - is prohibitively expensive and support from the RHS is limited. I wouldn’t have been able to personally afford the project, but I managed to secure sponsorship from the University of Sheffield, the Yorkshire Gardens Trust and Burgon and Ball. I hope sharing my lessons shows that, yes, this is a challenging project, especially for a new designer, but it is not impossible.
I am now preparing for my final year on my Landscape Architecture course and will be spending the first half of that year studying abroad. I hope these lessons stand me in good stead for the inevitable challenges ahead! You can follow my progress on Instagram or on my blog https://sarahrosegrows.substack.com/