Project Giving Back will present its own feature garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in its final year after funding gardens for five years. The charity has funded more than 60 gardens since 2022, amplifying the work of charities across the UK with its motto of “gardens for good causes.”
The feature garden will celebrate this legacy and the enduring impact those gardens continue to have through relocation, reuse and community benefit. Creating a garden for Chelsea can be a very effective way for charities to raise their profile and funds, offering a unique platform for good causes to bring their stories to thousands of show visitors and millions more through media coverage.
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Designed by James Basson of Provence-based Scape Design, the Project Giving Back Garden will offer a dramatic, other-worldly setting. Towering red sandstone cliffs, coloured by natural ochre pigment and gently weathered over time will sit among pine woodland. Beneath them, the planting is resilient and suited to the warm climate of southern France, offering a glimpse of what UK gardens may look like in the near future.
Pine trees will be positioned at the boundary edges of the garden, giving visitors a feeling of enclosure. Planting is wild, relying more on restraint than control. Plants will include the spring blossoming wild pear (Pyrus pyraster) and the fragrant common thyme (Thymus vulgaris) that colonises crevices and is deeply rooted in local identity.
Speaking about his design, James Basson says: “Taking inspiration from the ochre mines of Roussillon in Provence, Southern France where I live and work, the garden presents a powerful image of quiet regeneration. These mines were once heavily damaged settings but over time, through natural succession and soil regeneration, an extraordinary setting has emerged. I wanted to bring a little of its drama and raw beauty to RHS Chelsea, and I feel that its unique story provides an appropriate backdrop for Project Giving Back to celebrate its legacy and inspire others to give back in their own way.”
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James, who last designed a show garden at RHS Chelsea in 2017, describes his design as a “tended setting”—a garden that has emerged from wild beginnings, requiring regular, gentle care. “I am excited to be working with Project Giving Back, alongside my French studio team and the brilliant Mark Whyman Settings and Kelways in the UK,” he says.
The garden has been designed to start a conversation about the unique approach Project Giving Back has taken to make an impact on the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and charity sector in the UK. Hattie Ghaui, CEO of Project Giving Back, says: “This garden reflects what Project Giving Back set out to do—and what we are proud to have achieved in a relatively short period of time. Over five years, PGB has partnered with the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and used this global platform to champion good causes, support charities and show how gardens can become powerful vehicles for generosity and change.”
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Like all gardens funded by Project Giving Back, this one will be relocated after the show to serve a permanent purpose in the community.
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show runs from May 19 to 24, 2026. Tickets are available on the Royal Horticultural Society’s website.
