The Best Show Garden at the 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show lives on at a hospice in Scotland.
Muscular Dystrophy UK – Forest Bathing Garden
We were delighted to be at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024
Our Show Garden on Main Avenue was generously funded by grant-making charity Project Giving Back and designed by award winning garden designer Ula Maria. After the show, the garden was relocated to its permanent home in Glasgow.
After the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Our Forest Bathing Garden was relocated to The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow after the 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
The hospice provides care and support for people who have been diagnosed with a life-limiting or life-threatening condition and we’re pleased to provide support alongside the staff there. Care and community are at the heart of both Muscular Dystrophy UK and The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice, and the garden provides a unique outdoor space for patients, their families, and the local community to benefit from.
Find out more about the Garden
The garden offers an accessible, immersive forest bathing experience featuring more than 50 birch trees and 4,000 plants.
Meet our garden designer Ula Maria
Read more about the fantastic garden and landscape designer who is bringing our garden to life.
WHAT OUR GARDEN MEANS TO THE CHARITY
We want more people to know what it’s like to live with a muscle wasting or weakening condition. Part of the challenge of a diagnosis is that no one has heard of it, you know no one living with it and you have to explain it to everyone from family, friends, teachers, colleagues and even GPs. Having a Show Garden at the 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show allowed us to reach people who had never heard of the conditions, give our community a voice and raise awareness of our work. Beyond the show, we’re delighted that the garden now lives on in the grounds of a hospice – providing a calm space for patients, their families and the wider community to benefit from.
Funding for the garden
The Muscular Dystrophy UK Forest Bathing Garden was made possible thanks to funding from Project Giving Back, a charitable organisation that supports gardens for good causes at RHS Chelsea and, following the show, in communities around the UK.
WHAT DOES THE GARDEN LOOK LIKE?
Flint wall
Birch trees
Bungaroosh wall
Clay pavers
About Muscular Dystrophy UK
We’re the leading charity for more than 110,000 children and adults in the UK living with one of over 60 muscle wasting and weakening conditions.
These progressive conditions get worse over time and can cause difficulty walking, trouble swallowing, breathing complications, pain and heart problems.
Living with a muscle wasting or weakening condition can be exhausting, stressful and lonely. With endless appointments, treatments, physiotherapy and other medical support. Life can be more challenging or cut short.
WANT TO GET INVOLVED?
GARDEN NEWS
The benefits of forest bathing
Our Forest Bathing Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024 will offer an accessible, immersive forest bathing experience. But what is forest bathing? And what are its benefits?
Our 'Forest Bathing Garden' wins Best in Show at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024
We’re excited to announce we have been awarded both a Gold medal and Best in Show at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024. This means our garden scored the highest amount of points from the judging panel out of all the Show Gardens.
Gardening advice from Ula Maria: Our Forest Bathing RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden designer
Our talented Chelsea Flower Show Forest Bathing garden designer Ula Maria shares her top tips and advice for all things horticulture
‘I never felt more alone than during my diagnosis’ – the story that inspired our Chelsea Flower Show Garden
Martin Hywood’s diagnosis story was our Chelsea Flower Show designer’s inspiration for the garden. He tells us about his diagnosis journey, his love of being outdoors, and why the Chelsea Flower Show is a great opportunity for the muscle wasting community.
Enjoying nature as a disabled family
Mum to fun loving seven-year-old Josie, Charlotte shares how important spending time in nature is for her family. She explains what Josie loves about the great outdoors.
‘Best in Show’ garden relocating to Glasgow after RHS Chelsea Flower Show
Our Forest Bathing Garden will be relocated to Scotland. The garden’s new home has been confirmed as The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow.
Watch our garden being built at Chelsea
Our thanks
Our heartfelt thanks to individuals and organisations who have helped bring our garden to life, both at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and in its permanent home in Scotland.