Royal Bank of Canada reflects on its seven years at Chelsea
Looking back at the RBC Gardens since 2011
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is delighted to present a Show Garden for the seventh consecutive year at the 2017 RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Each year our garden designs aim to express the importance of water in keeping with the goals of the RBC Blue Water Project™ – a historic, wide-ranging, 10-year global commitment to help protect the world's fresh water resources.
Once the lights have dimmed on the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, RBC donates its garden to a charitable partner in the British Isles, enabling the garden to live on and benefit the local community.
Below we profile our gardens from the past six years
2016 – Royal Bank of Canada Garden
Last year’s garden was dynamic, sculptural and celebrated water not as a commodity, but as an entity sacred to humankind. The planting was influenced by flora found in the dry Mediterranean pine habitat of Jordan and illustrated how arid landscapes can have beautiful flora with minimal rainfall.
Designer: Hugo Bugg
Medal: Silver Gilt
2015 – Royal Bank of Canada Garden
This garden explored a simple truism: water equals life. The design demonstrated practical and simple solutions to ensure sustainable city gardens. The garden is now an interactive play garden for visiting children and their families at the Earl Mountbatten Hospice, Isle of Wight.
Designer: Matthew Wilson
Medal: Silver Gilt
2014 – RBC Waterscape Garden
Symbolic and sophisticated, this garden reflected global water issues while demonstrating water management solutions for home gardens and commercial landscapes. The garden was donated to the Vauxhall One Business Improvement District with its permanent home on the site of the former Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, London.
Designer: Hugo Bugg
Medal: Gold
2013 - RBC Blue Water Roof Garden
An exciting vision of an urban rooftop garden that integrated recreational space with innovative biodiversity and habitat features. Befitting its roof-top design, this garden was donated to the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary as a key part of the hospital’s new Therapeutic Roof Garden development.
Designer: Nigel Dunnett
Medal: Gold
2012 - RBC Blue Water Garden
Showcasing artful rainwater management, this garden was the first Chelsea garden to incorporate bioswales as a central feature. It was donated to the London Wildlife Trust and rebuilt on the Thamesmead Estate, South London where it hosts local garden clubs.
Designer: Nigel Dunnett
Medal: Silver Gilt
2011 - RBC New Wild Garden
This garden was the RHS Chelsea Flower Show’s first full-scale “rain garden” designed to capture and use every single drop of rain fall. It was relocated to the Slimbridge Wetland Centre in Gloucestershire, where visitors can gain tips on how to garden sustainably.
Designer: Nigel Dunnett
Medal: Silver Gilt
Once the lights have dimmed on the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, RBC donates its garden to a charitable partner in the British Isles, enabling the garden to live on and benefit the local community.
