Kate Middleton To Help Design And Build Garden For Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Show
On Tuesday, Kensington Palace revealed the project that Kate Middleton has been secretly working on for the past three months: a garden for the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show. The Duchess of Cambridge will work with RHS architects Andrée Davies and Adam White to design and build an immersive showpiece for the annual show in May 2019.
This year’s RHS Garden will serve to “inspire children, families and communities to get back to nature,” according to the Palace’s press statement.
In addition, the garden will draw a connection between the environment and the positive effects that the outdoors can have on mental health. Middleton is a known lover of the outdoors and strongly believes that a good relationship with the environment can improve development in children. She often supports organizations rooted in educating children about nature, such as the Scouts and Farms for City Children, the Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden, and the RHS Campaign for School Gardening.
“The garden seeks to recapture for adults the sense of wonder and magic that they enjoyed as children, in addition to kindling excitement and a passion for nature in future generations,” the statement continued.
“Wild planting and natural materials will be used to recreate a woodland wilderness where children and adults alike can feel closer to the great outdoors.”
To highlight the benefits of the great outdoors and inspire children, families and communities to get back to nature, The Duchess of Cambridge, @The_RHS and landscape architects Davies White will design and build the 2019 RHS Garden at #RHSChelsea: https://t.co/9gRDIvm0CL pic.twitter.com/jQvuZxNXNY
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) January 15, 2019
White and Davies revealed that Middleton has been extremely involved in the project, constantly emailing and chatting with her partners and drawing out all of her ideas for the garden plans, People reported. The 37-year-old royal has shown a true passion for nature during this project.
“To us, this is very much about childhood memories. We all spoke about our childhood memories, being outdoors and exploring nature. She was very open and has been hugely collaborative,” White said of the process.
The architects also shared that Middleton was inspired by Japanese concept of “forest bathing,” which is simply taking the time to enjoy nature as a means of improving one’s overall health.
The design for the garden will be revealed on February 11, a tweet from the RHS said.
Middleton’s collaboration with RHS will continue after the flower show in May, as they have plans to develop a garden at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and a permanent garden at RHS Wisley in Surrey.
Soon after the announcement was made, the Duchess visited King Henry’s Walk Garden, a community-run garden that often hosts workshops for children, according to Town & County. There, Middleton spoke with a group of kids about the importance of outdoor learning and how much fun it can be.
