TRUSSELL’S Together Garden, displayed at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show last week, was designed to highlight the power of communities working together and to convey the message: “You are worthy, you are valuable, you are precious, and we see you,” its co-chief executive Emma Revie said.
In the first year that the anti-poverty charity has taken part in the show, its garden won a gold medal and the People’s Choice Best Small Show Garden award, as well as the Best Construction award.
It was designed by Rob Hardy & Co, built by Peter Gregory Landscapes, and sponsored by Project Giving Back.
Speaking to the Church Times in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, Ms Revie said: “What we want this garden to shout is ‘You are worthy, you are valuable, you are precious, and we see you.’ And I think those ideas have deeply theological roots, and they play out for people of Christian faith, of other faiths, but also those without faith. We are united in that belief of the inherent value of a person: each person matters.”
The Together Garden will be transported to the Trussell foodbank in Strabane, in Northern Ireland, where volunteers there will be trained how to maintain the new plants.
“The foodbank do an incredible job, and it’s an amazing community, but the project manager there talks about it as a community feeling quite forgotten,” Ms Revie said. “This garden is going to go wrap around the garden that they have, and they will use it to continue to serve their community.”
The design and collaboration took two years. More than 4200 plants and 75 different plant species make up the garden, including Iris Red Pike, Euphorbia ceratocarpa, Cerinthe major Purpurascens, and Baptisia Purple Smoke.
The seating area, with a wooden reciprocal frame, which is based on Leonardo da Vinci’s Bridge, is the focal point of the garden. “It’s structured in such a way that each timber supports its neighbour,” she said. “That speaks really to the centrality of our togetherness in our mission.”
Each timber also represented someone vital in the charity, Ms Revie explained. “If we think about the timbers in this structure, from the person who puts a tin in a collection point, to a volunteer who gives their hours to support their neighbours, to the Citizens Advice adviser who comes into the foodbank to give financial-inclusion support to somebody, to the donors that enable our work to happen — everyone is playing their part together to end hunger today,” she said.
The structure can be self-reinforcing, but was secured for the show. To make the space “a safe, inclusive and welcoming place”, the planting behind the structure was deep, so conversations “can’t be overheard”.
“We could welcome somebody who’s come to Strabane Foodbank in here for a cup of tea with a volunteer, or maybe just to sit quietly and look out over the water.”
The water Ms Revie referred to is the small pond opposite the wooden structure. When the pond is drained, at the pull of the lever, the area becomes accessible and the space transforms to a larger communal area.
Mr Hardy, who designed the garden, visited eight Trussell foodbanks as part of his research. He said that the garden “features elements designed to symbolise solidarity and community”. He continued: “Multi-stem trees and interlocking seating and paving patterns represent the strength that comes from people standing together.”
The colours and textures of the plants were also carefully considered. “The vibrancy represents the power of community. You can see lots of difference and variety, but a kind of coming together in harmony,” Ms Revie said.
“There have been a lot of happy, joyful tears, but it feels incredibly special. Rob is an artist because this feels like it has been painted so, so beautifully, and he has captured the heart of who we are.”
A highlight of the Chelsea Flower Show for Ms Revie was speaking to members of the public. “Quietly in the midst of those conversations, somebody might just say, ‘I actually volunteer at one out of your foodbanks,’ and the joy has been to open up the gate and say, ‘Please come in, this is your garden. Come in and let us tell you about why this garden is all about you and what you do’ — that has been really special.”
On Saturday, volunteers deconstructed the garden and began repotting the plants to prepare them for travel. Each plant will be quarantined with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and will need a passport before going to Northern Ireland. Ms Revie said she hoped that the launch of the garden would take place in September.
Ahead of the Chelsea Flower Show, Trussell released research analysing access to local facilities and community spaces. On behalf of the charity, Opinium surveyed 3280 UK adults between 15 to 27 April.
It found that people in the “most deprived areas” were more than twice as likely to say that local facilities helped them to access advice or support on social security and money matters (24 per cent) than people in the “least deprived areas” (12 per cent). One in 10 people (10 per cent) in the “most deprived areas” had little or no access to community spaces, compared to five per cent of people in the “least deprived areas”.
Additionally, 39 per cent of parents in the “most deprived areas” reported that the loss of community spaces had had a negative impact on their children’s development, compared with 20 per cent in the “least deprived areas”.
Eighty-six per cent agreed that “community spaces are important for physical health”, mental health (83 per cent), and the enjoyment of life (84 per cent).