New to RHS Chelsea, garden designer Giulio Giorgi and his contractor Landesigns Landscaping Services received the inaugural RHS Environmental Innovation Award for the World Child Cancer Nurturing Garden at the 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
The judging panel for the award was represented by Malcolm Anderson, RHS Head of Sustainability, Liz Nicholson Managing Director Nicholsons and Paul Cowell Chartered Landscape Architect. Though, unanimous in their decision, it was reportedly a very close competition between Giorgi’s garden and the Flood Resilient Garden designed by Ed Barsley and Naomi Slade.
The winning garden featured, unique raised beds which were designed to fit together like a modular-block system requiring no concrete or chemical glues in their assembly. Leftover bricks from the raised beds were crushed and used as base material for the garden path. The Nurturing Garden also featured a unique watering system through traditional clay devices called ‘ollas’, which is a low-tech system with no need for water pressure nor electricity to ensure water wastage is minimal and is at its most effective.
“This year has marked something of a seismic shift in the way the gardens have been designed and built, yes, we can always do better and there is always something new to learn. But we should all take a moment to celebrate the sustainability stories embedded in the 2024 gardens,” said Malcolm Anderson.
The new award recognises and celebrates the examples of excellence in progressive environmental ingenuity at the show, and was open to all gardens who have been through the new RHS Green Garden Audit.
Sarah Poll, RHS head of shows development said: “We have introduced this new award in order to recognise and celebrate the fantastic ways designers and contractors are embracing the need to reduce their impact on the environment. We hope by celebrating successes through this new award at our world-famous flower show and showing how small changes can make a big difference through the new Green Garden Audit we will help continue to encourage positive change.”