SGLD present ‘beautiful biodiversity’ at RHS Chelsea

SGLD present ‘beautiful biodiversity’ at RHS Chelsea: The Society of Garden + Landscape Designers (SGLD) will return to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2026 with a compelling new installation. Titled ‘Beautiful Biodiversity’ the courtyard garden (within a trade stand) is designed to demonstrate that ecological integrity and refined aesthetics are not competing priorities, but natural partners.

Created in tandem by SGLD Registered Members Eliza Gray MSGLD and Bo Cook MSGLD, the installation invites visitors to reconsider how beautiful planting and materials can work hand-in-hand with biodiversity.

The garden has been conceived to inspire show visitors with practical, achievable ideas — from choosing wildlife-friendly plants, including native species, to incorporating essential habitats such as sand, water and building waste in ways that feel intentional, contemporary and visually cohesive.

Planting & materials

A restrained yet expressive planting palette of pale pink, cool blue and delicate white creates a calm, harmonious atmosphere with species selected not only for their aesthetic qualities, but for their ability to support pollinators and other wildlife.

The hard landscaping reinforces this narrative. Zinc planters, limestone, reclaimed timber, a garden studio and green screens combine to form a contemporary architectural framework. By activating both horizontal and vertical planes, the design increases planting density per square metre while creating a textural landscape that feels both rooted and refined.

Biodiversity in Action

Beyond its visual impact, the garden is underpinned by a robust ecological strategy. All principal build materials have been selected as part of the circular economy and can be reused, repurposed, crushed or recycled after the show. For instance, the use of reclaimed ash timber, sourced from trees felled due to ash dieback, highlights the designers’ commitment to responsible material use and resourcefulness.

A diverse range of habitats are seamlessly integrated throughout the scheme, including log piles (to attract beetles, woodlice) leaf litter (to support invertebrates, worms and fungi and insulate the soil), aggregates (for ground nesting invertebrates), and a gabion bench constructed from building waste, terracotta pipes, paving, and manmade insect habitats, to provide refuges for wildlife, and create opportunities for moss, ferns and self-seeding plants to establish. It also adds a decorative feature to the installation.  Elsewhere an accessible water bowl (planted up with native pond plants) provides an essential resource for invertebrates and mammals, while green screens maximise the vertical plane to increase overall plant matter and habitat potential.

The planting design responds carefully to aspect and soil conditions. Shade planters incorporate humus-rich soils to support woodland-style planting, while front-facing planters are designed to tolerate drier, sand-mulched and aggregate-filled conditions. Different substrates at ground level and within containers create additional microhabitats for invertebrates, encouraging self-seeding and allowing smaller plants to soften the bases of planters over time. The result is a layered, dynamic system — one that demonstrates how biodiversity can be deliberately and beautifully embedded into contemporary garden design.

Bo and Eliza are currently exploring the possibility of introducing a soundscape to create a more immersive experience.

The Designers

Bo Cook MSGLD: “The random colour palette, messy edges, and scrubland style that tends to be associated with biodiverse landscapes is wonderful, but we want to show that aiming for a biodiversity rich garden needn’t mean having something overwhelming, or that requires a large space. It can be balanced as well as environmentally friendly.”

Eliza Gray MSGLD: “We want to demonstrate that biodiversity doesn’t have to look wild or chaotic. “With careful design, thoughtful plant selection and considered materials, you can create a garden that feels refined and uplifting — while genuinely supporting wildlife.”

SGLD Commitment 

The SGLD’s return to RHS Chelsea in 2026 builds on many successful years at the Show.

Andrew Duff MSGLD, Chair of the SGLD comments:

“As a Society, we are firmly committed to advancing garden design that responds with intelligence, creativity and rigour to the environmental challenges of our time. Climate resilience, biodiversity loss and the responsible stewardship of materials are no longer peripheral concerns, they are fundamental to the integrity of good design. Beautiful Biodiversity demonstrates how our Registered Members unite horticultural expertise, environmental responsibility and design excellence to create gardens that are both inspiring and future-ready. More than a show installation, it stands as a compelling statement of intent: that thoughtfully designed gardens possess the power not only to delight, but to regenerate, restore and sustain the living world.”

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