Horticulture meets installation art at RHS Tatton

Left: Sketch of a Moth by Georgia Tucker for the RHS Nocturnal Pollinator Experience | Right: Off the Grid by Nathan Webster

A blackout tent with close-up projections celebrating lesser-known pollinators will be at the heart of an immersive art experience at this year’s Royal Horticultural Society Flower Show Tatton Park 19-23 July.

Visitors to the show will get to explore the magical world of nocturnal pollinators, particularly moths, who are often overshadowed by their more popular contemporaries, in a garden designed by immersive technology artist Georgia Tucker and designer Sharon Hockenhull. The RHS Nocturnal Pollinator Experience takes people on a day-to-night learning adventure ending up inside the tent to watch the unsung heroes at work after dark. 

It is one of a dozen gardens tackling subjects, from the conceptual to practical, spiritual to technological, at this year’s show, which began in 1999 and has become the event where future Chelsea designers first broke new ground. This year has seen a large increase in local participants, with participants from the North West in every category.

J. Parker’s Chained to Tech Garden, a show garden by last year’s RHS Young Designer of the Year finalist Rachel Platt, examines tech addiction among young adults, with futuristic-style hard landscaping amid dahlias, hyssop and New Zealand flax emulating the instant gratification and euphoria that using technology provides. 

Carolyn Hardern and Jon Jarvis raise awareness of the high suicide rates among construction workers with Constructing Minds featuring a private retreat for one-to-one counselling and reflective pool before moving towards the wildflower-planted inner sanctuary. The Macmillan Garden Legacy Garden by Lynn Cordall invites visitors to consider supporting the cancer charity with gifts in wills, which fund over a third of its services. The garden, with three 6 metre tall birch trees and a metal pergola, has an unusual triangular shape, representing that gifts can be seen and accessed by everyone. Pip Probert’s Alfresco Garden celebrates a practical yet pretty party and entertainment space. 

The RHS Young Designer of the Year 2023 gardens feature work by Ollie Pike, 24, whose Bible Society: Psalm 27 Garden evokes ideas of protection, guidance and courage felt in the UK’s many churchyards. The entry by Camellia Hayes, 28, Barratt Developments: Seeking Resilience includes a reclaimed brick wall housing bird boxes to address the decline in vital nesting spots, while the third garden in the category, Off the Grid by Nathan Webster, 24, marries sustainability with luxury for the modern home by harnessing solar power and water harvesting methods within the grounds of a modern, sunken lodge.

It will also be the first time that the Long Borders category, which was popular at the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show, comes to Tatton Park. Visitors will be inspired by how participants, ranging from garden design students and budding lockdown gardeners to established designers, compete for a medal by packing an 11sqm raised bed with creative vision and plenty of take-home ideas, all under this year’s theme, Sensory. 

The popular Fruit and Veg competition returns, as does the Flower School with the National Association of Flower Arrangers and Flowers from the Farm. A full programme of events, talks, and activities for young and old are lined up, with an extended range of catering options – including a larger champagne village. 

Helena Pettit, RHS Director of Gardens and Shows, said: “It’s fantastic to see how designers at our youngest flower show are so keen to push boundaries in the world of garden design. Tackling such a broad range of subjects, from mental health and tech addiction to modern, luxurious yet sustainable living, through horticulture, we’re demonstrating how gardening and the outdoors can both empower people while bringing calm and good health to the individual.

“Of equal delight is the fact that we’ve got such a high number of local participants this year. It’s great to see the North West catapulting the best in growing and garden design to the forefront.”

RHS Flower Show Tatton Park, which is attended by over 80,000 people, takes place from 19-23 July.