The Subaru Cocoon garden highlights the importance of temperate rainforests in regulating local climates, reducing flooding, supporting unique biodiversity as well as providing habitats for many threatened species. Once covering 20% of the UK but now reduced to just 1%, temperate rainforests are one of the country’s most fragile and overlooked ecosystems. The show garden distilled the essence of these landscapes, balancing naturalistic planting with a contemporary interpretation of the walled garden.
Reflecting on the winning garden, Liz Nicholson, Chair of the Judging Panel, said it was “A transportational and convincing space – the integration of water and enclosure delivers a delicate privacy. The judges were struck by the perfectly executed complexity of the innovative brickwork made of 95% recycled construction waste. Planting draws attention to the temperate rainforest ecosystem to create a natural garden, well established, rather than just being planted. Exceptional showmanship under difficult conditions during the build has resulted in an established, calm and sensitive garden that delivers on brief and celebrates nature.”
For Gardens of Curiosity, Daniel March won Best Garden for A Garden of Two Tales, which aimed to inspire wonder and inquisitiveness; a central water feature leading to a secluded area asks visitors to question before judging what they see.
The Best Construction for a Garden of Curiosity was awarded to A Woodland Edge by Nicolas Navarro.Chair of the Judging Panel, Mark Gregory, said: “The designer has achieved a transportational feeling of enclosure in an inventive abstraction of a woodland garden in an urban area. An excellent choice in materials and polish, such as the use of metal sculptures, was extremely powerful and a high level of design competence with impactful planting created a beautiful ornamental evocation of woodland planting.”
Receiving the Best City Pocket Planting award, Teucer Wilson: Green the Gap Garden by Laura Strand and Sam Stark-Kemp created a garden where nature can thrive in challenging urban environments.
Jo Thompson, Head of the Judging Panel said: “Visitors have an immediate understanding and sense of place captured by the designers. The verticality resembling a cityscape through beautifully selected tall trees and recycled stone carved pillars perfectly reflect the garden’s intent. Planting was refined and considered with a sense of real horticultural knowledge and evolution while an atmosphere and sense of theatre was balanced with a cohesive and considered overall design.”
RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival runs from 1-6 July 2025. Full list of all the awards issued at this year’s show can be found here.
