RHS Chelsea 2021 - Harris Bugg

“The message behind this garden is clear: bringing more green spaces into the urban environment is absolutely vital, as fundamental to the infrastructure of our cities as transport, power and water.”

Clare Foster, House & Garden

M&G Garden

Main Avenue’s 1st pocket park

Awarded a Gold Medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021, this garden stood for the importance of beautiful and restorative green spaces in the places we need them the most – our towns and cities.

Designed by Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg, the M&G garden was inspired by the belief that there is no corner too small, too unloved, or too battered that cannot be transformed into somewhere restorative and powerful for people and wildlife, while also providing many climate and environmental benefits.

“This is a truly inspirational garden.”

Joe Swift on BBC Chelsea

Brought to life by Crocus, Charlotte and Hugo imagined an industrial past for the M&G garden – a place transformed to green but still showing echoes of the past. In doing so, the garden demonstrated how found materials and unloved remnants can be transformed into something extraordinary and authentic.

Wherever possible, the materials used to create the garden were reclaimed and re-used, including a sculpture of over 100 linear metres of repurposed metal pipes created in collaboration with the architecture and design studio Mcmullan Studio. The pipework sculpture reimagined an everyday object – steel pipes – into a beautiful part of the garden. The colours and texture contrasted with the naturalistic elements in the garden of plants, trees and water. Molten metal pour details injected the unexpected and animated the sculpture.

Water in the form of a naturalistic pool, surrounded by marginal planting, aided run-off and flood prevention and helped to encourage and support wildlife.

With the move of the show to September, the garden embraced the bold colours and textures of Autumn to celebrate the change in the seasons. In keeping with the importance of repurposing, this garden will be relocated to create a new urban green space in central London.

“The M&G Garden is exquisite.”

Monty Don on BBC Chelsea

A behind-the-scenes look

The garden featured plants and trees chosen for their tolerance to urban climate extremes interspersed with unusual and delicate planting to inject moments of ephemeral beauty. Structural planting included the towering forms of three Nyssa Sylvatica, and the mid canopy silvery leaves of Hippophae rhamnoides and Elaeagnus umbellata.

Over 50 people, from contractors to horticulturalists, were involved in making the pocket park garden designed by Charlotte and Hugo come to life. Hear from some of them in this short film made by Crocus.