The Project Giving Back Garden

The garden

Designed by celebrated garden designer James Basson of Provence-based Scape Design, the Project Giving Back Garden will offer a dramatic, other-wordly landscape, never before seen at RHS Chelsea. The garden celebrates the legacy of Project Giving Back’s funding of more than 60 gardens inspired by good causes since 2022 and the enduring impact those gardens continue to have through relocation, reuse and community benefit.  

Towering red sandstone cliffs, coloured by natural ochre pigment and gently weathered over time, 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.

The garden is dramatic and rich in biodiversity. It has been designed to start a conversation about the unique approach Project Giving Back (PGB) has taken to make an impact on the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and charity sector in the UK.

The planting

Pine trees will be positioned at the boundary edges of the garden, giving visitors a feeling of enclosure and a sense that they are experiencing the garden from within. Planting is wild, with a light touch, relying more on restraint than control. Every plant has fought for its place here, from the spring-blossoming wild pear (Pyrus pyraster) that uses spiny thorns to protect itself, to the beautifully fragrant yet understated common thyme (Thymus vulgaris) that colonises crevices and is an essential plant in Provence, deeply rooted in local identity.

Key plants:

• Pyrus pyraster – the region’s wild pear, a strong example of endurance
• Acer monspessulanum – a maple well adapted to a drying climate: tough, stable and elegant
• Ligustrum vulgare – common privet, widespread in the woodland understorey, helping shape the scale of the space and creating enclosure
• Pinus sylvestris – particularly adaptable, able to survive in dry, poor soils and across a wide range of climates
• Thymus vulgaris – essential to Provence: discreet, fragrant and deeply rooted in the local identity
• Lotus hirsutum – tolerant and versatile, creating soft grey tones across sun and shade; in shade it becomes lighter and more delicate
• Calluna vulgaris (and Erica scoparia) – fine textures and small leaves help keep the woodland vegetation light and vague, a haze of green
• Cistus laurifolius – metallic green foliage that reflects cool blue-green tones across the forest floor (also Cistus salvifolius, with warmer green leaves, offering a strong contrast)

Plants supplier: Kelways

The designer – James Basson

James, who last designed a show garden at RHS Chelsea in 2017 for M&G Investments (winning RHS Gold and Best in Show), describes his design as a ‘tended landscape,’ – a garden that has emerged from wild beginnings, requiring regular, gentle care. 

Scape Design, headed by designer James Basson (BA Hons Garden Design) specialises in sustainable, ecological and low maintenance gardens. Based in the South of France for over 20 years the studio works on projects in the Mediterranean and internationally.

Inspired by the natural landscape, using a carefully selected plant palette that is perfectly adapted to each individual garden, the team endeavours to create results that sit comfortably in their surroundings. James is a fully accredited member of the Society of Garden Designers (SGD in the UK) and the Fédération Française du Paysage (FFP in France).

Scape Design has won numerous awards including four gold medals at RHS Chelsea Flower Show (including Best in Show and Best Construction awards). Other gold medals include the Singapore Garden Festival, The Gardening World Cup in Japan, Les Victoires du Paysage and The Philadelphia Flower Show.

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 landscapes but over time, through natural succession and soil regeneration, an extraordinary landscape 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.” 

About the charity – Project Giving Back

Project Giving Back (PGB) is a unique grant-making charity that provides funding for gardens for good causes at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. PGB was launched in May 2021 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its devastating effects on UK charitable fundraising - effects that have since been exacerbated by the cost-of-living crisis. PGB will fund 11 gardens at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2026 and a total of 63 gardens inspired by a range of good causes at the show from 2022 - 2026.

Garden legacy

Plans are in place for the garden to live on beyond the show, continuing its story in a new setting. Just as the landscape that inspired the design has been shaped over time, the Project Giving Back Garden will remain a living legacy, a reminder that gardens, when thoughtfully designed and generously supported, can continue to inspire, heal and give back long after the show has ended.