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First Chelsea Flower Show garden relocated to NI

David MaxwellGardeners' Corner presenter
News imageGary Morrisroe David Maxwell, sitting in a garden surrounded by five women from the Strabane Community Project. He is smiling and wearing blue jeans and a open-necked white shirt. The women are all wearing dark green polo shirts with a "Strabane Foodbank" logoGary Morrisroe
David Maxwell met foodbank volunteers from the Strabane Community Project at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Flowers have a funny habit of conjuring up emotion, and on Wednesday a garden at the world-famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show prompted tears of joy.

They came from a group of women who had travelled to the show from Strabane, County Tyrone.

The reason for their emotion was that this gold medal-winning garden, which millions have watched this week, is being gifted to their community group.

"I'm wearing sunglasses for a reason, and it's nothing to do with the sun," said an emotional Ursula Doherty, who leads the Strabane Community Project.

The group offers education and employment programmes, and also operates a foodbank supported by the UK charity Trussell, which was successful in getting a show garden at Chelsea this year.

It is the first RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden to be relocated to Northern Ireland.

News imageGary Morrisroe A wide shot of the award-winning Chelsea Flower Show garden, with a partial view of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in the background. The garden has a large seating area, featuring a curved, wooden pergola over three large wooden blocks used as benches. There are green shrubs around the edges of a walkway and yellow, orange, red and purple flowers line the front of the picture. Gary Morrisroe
The award-winning garden, sited in front of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, will soon be reopening in Strabane

Among the women who travelled to London was Lorraine Harper, who knows the difference gardens can make.

She has had her fair share of challenges in life, but her confidence has grown since getting involved in the garden area the community project already has.

As a lead volunteer, she now teaches others how to grow their own veg and flowers.

A few months ago, Lorraine told me that she never really leaves Strabane, but she always watches the Chelsea Flower Show on TV. So what did she make of it?

"It's amazing. I just can't get over it. It's so Strabane — it will just fit our garden perfectly," she said.

Garden design 'symbolises mutual support'

The theme for Trussell's Together Garden is of togetherness and is expressed through intersecting paths and a quiet seating area where people can connect over a cuppa.

A reciprocal timber arch is not just an eye-catching feature — it symbolises mutual support, as each piece is held in place by others.

Rob Hardy, the designer behind the garden, is based in Yorkshire, but he visited Strabane ahead of the design and build so the garden's final home was in his thoughts.

News imageGary Morrisroe Rob Hardy poses for a photo with David Maxwell while standing under a curved wooden pergola, in front of shrubbery with large white flowers. Hardy is wearing a grey baseball cap, dark-rimmed glasses. a blue coat and a navy jumper. David is wearing a white, open-necked shirt.Gary Morrisroe
The garden's designer, Rob Hardy, told David Maxwell the competition was a "real challenge"

Taking gold with his first ever Chelsea garden is a career high, but he is just as excited about the longer term.

"Bringing your design skills to Chelsea is incredible and a real challenge for me, and it's amazing that we got gold at our first attempt, so I am really, really pleased with that," he said.

"There is that bigger message that together we can end hunger in the UK.

"And just being able to take the space that has been designed for the community in Strabane and take it back there - never mind a week in Chelsea - it's going to be living there for years. It's fantastic."

'A dream come true'

News imageGary Morrisroe Rob Hardy, a man with a shaved head and white beard, holds a gold medal presentation card above his head while standing in his award-winning garden. He is wearing a navy jacket, a navy jumper and a navy and white scarfGary Morrisroe
Rob Hardy won a gold medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show at his first attempt

The seating areas in the garden, which this week have been frequented by celebrities and Irish President Catherine Connolly, will soon be used as a place of quiet reflection and therapy in a town which suffers from high levels of unemployment and social deprivation.

The garden is one of more than 60 that Project Giving Back has funded for charities since the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is a garden about ending hunger, and yet there are no edibles.

That is a deliberate message from the charity - hunger is not a food problem, but an income problem.

The plants in the garden have been chosen to perform as well in Strabane as in their prime site directly in front of the Royal Hospital Chelsea — the home of the Chelsea Pensioners — and the hope is they will make the move to Northern Ireland very soon.

News imageGary Morrisroe Another view of the garden, showing a paved walkway leading to the seating area and the wooden pergola. A variety of shrubs line the walkway, including some with white and pink flowers. Gary Morrisroe
A volunteer said the garden would be "a long-lasting legacy" for Strabane

Construction work will take place over the summer, and Ursula Doherty hopes the garden will open in September.

"When we get this garden settled, that's when the journey's really going to begin, and that journey is going to be for the people within our town and within our community," she said.

"This is going to be a long-lasting legacy coming back to Strabane town."

For all of the women from Strabane, it was their first time at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show — and they are taking a garden back home.

As Lorraine said: "It really is a dream come true."

You can hear more about the garden on this week's Gardeners' Corner with David Maxwell.