RHS CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW 2024
The Anywhere Courtyard
A compact courtyard garden designed as a planted refuge for people and wildlife, bringing greenery, shade, water and a sense of calm to hard urban settings.
Awarded a Silver-Gilt medal at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024.
THE GARDEN AT CHELSEA
A small garden with a bigger idea
The Anywhere Courtyard was conceived as a flexible garden for compact urban spaces. Raised planters create depth and enclosure, trees provide height and shade, and a water wall brings sound and movement into the garden.
Two seating areas are surrounded by layered planting, creating a feeling of privacy without closing the space in. The garden was designed to offer calm, habitat and everyday contact with plants in places where a conventional garden may not be possible.
THE PLANTING
Layered planting for a compact space
The planting brings together trees and architectural foliage with grasses, herbs and flowering perennials. Differences in height, texture and flowering time create movement and seasonal change, while a strong underlying structure keeps the courtyard green and established in character.
PLANTING LIST
- Tulbaghia violacea ‘Alba’
- Rosa ‘Night Owl’
- Salvia ‘I Cavalieri del Tau’
- Gaura lindheimeri
- Iris ‘Benton Deirdre’
- Salvia ‘Love and Wishes’
- Festuca amethystina
- Salvia rosmarinus ‘Whitewater Silver’
- Erigeron ‘Profusion’
- Astrantia ‘Roma’
- Stipa tenuissima
- Salvia × jamensis
- Agapanthus ‘Amourette Blue’
- Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna Pink’
- Aloysia citrodora
- Polystichum aculeatum
- Canna indica
- Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Rex’
- Chamaerops humilis
- Thymus serpyllum ‘Magic Carpet’
- Salvia officinalis ‘Berggarten’
- Koelreuteria paniculata
- Ficus carica
BEHIND THE SCENES
Building the garden at Chelsea
The garden came together during the concentrated build period before the show opened. The structure, raised planters, water feature, trees and planting were assembled in stages, followed by the final details that transformed the build site into the finished courtyard.
These photographs follow some of that process, from the first structural elements and installation of the water wall through to planting and the final days before opening.
Contractors: BIG Fish Landscapes
AFTER CHELSEA
A second life in Grimsby
After the show, The Anywhere Courtyard was relocated to Creative Start Arts in Health CIC at The Great Escape in the Port of Grimsby.
There, the temporary show garden became a permanent green space within the historic docklands, cared for and used by the people who spend time there.
READ THE GRIMSBY STORY →
THE ANYWHERE IDEA
Designed to adapt, move and be used again
The courtyard was designed as an adaptable framework rather than a garden intended for one location.
Its main elements can be reconfigured for different compact spaces, with planting, seating, water and storage adapted to suit the setting and the people who will use it.
The move from Chelsea to Grimsby put that idea into practice. What began as a temporary show garden became a lasting community space with a life beyond the show.
EXPLORE MORE WORK →