Centre for Mental Health will partner with Wild City Studio to create a show garden for the 2023 RHS Chelsea Flower Show (23-27 May 2023), supported by Project Giving Back.
The ground-breaking ‘Centre for Mental Health’s The Balance Garden’ is the brainchild of award-winning designers Jonathan Davies and Steve Williams of Wild City Studio. It will be an urban community garden that celebrates the relationship between authentic connections with nature and mental health. It will bring together the human and natural world to create a healing space for an urban community, using repurposed materials found in urban spaces and plants that will attract nature and provide food for people.
The garden will have a lasting legacy. It will aim to inspire people nationwide to use green spaces and create community gardens that will promote mental health and create climate resilient places for people. And after the show, Centre for Mental Health’s The Balance Garden will move to Tottenham, North London, creating a new space for the community to enjoy.
Centre for Mental Health is being supported by Project Giving Back, a philanthropic organisation that supports good causes to create RHS Chelsea Flower Show gardens that are designed to leave a lasting legacy for the charities they are inspired by.
More details about the garden and how it will help spark a new conversation about mental health, community wellbeing and climate resilience will be coming soon.
Centre for Mental Health’s chief executive Sarah Hughes said: “We are delighted that Wild City Studio and Project Giving Back are making it possible for us to embark on this inspiring project. We believe that community gardens can help create climate resilience and in the process make a big impact on people’s mental health and communities’ wellbeing. Centre for Mental Health’s The Balance Garden will change the way we all think about ecology, community and wellbeing. And its legacy will be a lasting resource for the people of Tottenham.”
Speaking about Project Giving Back’s support for the garden, PGB CEO Hattie Ghaui said: “The link between green space and mental health is well established but there is much more to do to improve equitable access to gardens and the opportunity to garden for urban and under-represented communities across the UK. We are excited to be partnering with Centre for Mental Health and Wild City Studio in 2023, particularly as the garden will live on to benefit people in Tottenham for many years to come.”
