The world’s most iconic flower show has come and gone for another year and it has not disappointed, but not just because of masterly designs and countless beautiful plants, but because some gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show had managed to achieve a sense of being self-aware.

What do we mean by this? There are two strands. The first is whereby an environment, its colours, planting, flow and natural feel, work together to produce emotions that we readily connect with; we can feel what the garden is trying to say.

The harder and more subtle element of this is how gardens are conjoined to our modern contexts and conversations. That is, what we find important at this present time and what we should continue to find important. Marrying these two together can create a lasting positive experience that provides a truly memorable garden identity. 

Nowhere has this self-awareness been more evident than in the Greenfingers Charity Garden designed by Kate Gould. Our team are really proud to have been supporting the charity through photographic services during the show, helping them tell the story of the charity and the challenge of creating green spaces for life-limited children.

The art of combining the designed environment with current context was achieved through the use of accessibility - making sure that everyone could access all places of a deliberately designed two-storey garden. It was also achieved by using the theme of family and encouraging us to see the garden as somewhere that memories are made.

In this way then, the garden is an emphatic example of a garden that is truly self-aware – helping us reconnect with the essentials that gardens provide to children and families across the world. So as shows come and go, messages must be strong enough to endure. And what is a stronger message than the fundamentals of social life: family, memories and liberty.

If photography can capture just a small portion of this, then it is always an endeavour worthy of our time.

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It was a joy to capture the garden for Greenfingers. Please do visit their website and explore their work.