Charles Hawkes announces his RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023
Award-winning landscape designer, Charlie Hawkes is delighted to announce his 2023 RHS Chelsea Flower Show Sanctuary Garden, The National Brain Appeal’s ‘Rare Space’, supported by Project Giving Back. The National Brain Appeal helps people affected by neurological conditions by funding pioneering research, innovative treatments and world-class facilities at The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and the Institute of Neurology in Queen Square, London.
Sponsored by Project Giving Back, the garden has been designed to create a space that can be enjoyed by people living with rare forms of dementia, particularly visual and spacial forms of the disease. It will be displayed at the world's most famous flower show between 22-27th May 2023, before being permanently relocated close to the new Rare Dementia Support Centre at a central London location. The National Brain Appeal funds Rare Dementia Support and is currently fundraising for the Centre, which will be the first of its kind in the world, to provide guidance, support and education, as well as being a space for research, artistic and cultural activities for people with rare forms of dementias.
Designer, Charlie Hawkes said, “This garden allows those living with visual and non-memory-led dementias to easily navigate a custom-designed outdoor space, so it becomes an accessible and stimulating environment for them to enjoy and move around with greater independence. One in six people in the UK are affected by neurological conditions, so it's important to support the exceptional work of The National Brain Appeal in funding world-leading research and supporting people with neurological conditions. I hope the garden will increase the feeling of well-being and connectedness of people living with rare dementias and other neurological conditions.”
Theresa Dauncey, Chief Executive of The National Brain Appeal, said: “Having a garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show is such a wonderful opportunity for The National Brain Appeal to raise awareness of our work and we are incredibly grateful to Project Giving Back for making it possible. We are delighted to be working with Charlie Hawkes; he has really engaged with the issues that face people with neurological conditions, and in particular the challenges of living with rare forms of dementias. We can’t wait to see his ideas come to life in the garden and to see it live on after the show as a place for people with rare dementias to enjoy and a legacy for the charity.”
Charlie continues; “I have chosen plants and trees for the garden that will minimise sensory disruption for people with neurological conditions. People living with posterior cortical atrophy (PCA), for example, can find dappled light confusing, so I have selected a multi-stem form of Parrotia persica that will provide defined, rather than broken, shade and contrast.”
About the Garden
Chelsea Flower Show 2022 gold medal winner, Charlie Hawkes, who was recently awarded ‘House & Garden’ Magazine’s ‘Rising Star’ award for Garden Design, has created The National Brain Appeal’s ‘Rare Space’ Sanctuary Garden with the input and collaboration of people living with rare forms dementia. Using the experience of people with visual and non-memory led dementias, they have inspired a space that will foster autonomy, hope and encourage activity among other people affected. These rare dementias can make seeing, understanding and moving confidently in physical spaces very challenging.
Charlie has designed a garden that will offer a balance between exploration and calm navigation. A person who has a visual or non-memory-led dementia will have a greater sense of safety within a calm space they can enjoy with a friend or family member. A level, simply textured path with minimal joints turns through the garden, offering along its way brightly coloured seating areas and sheltered spaces that promote independent wayfinding. Soothing water features, positioned next to each of the seating areas, will also enhance the restful environment.
The planting scheme in The National Brain Appeal’s ‘Rare Space’ includes up to 2,000 plants. Amongst these, the fully hardy Rosa glauca provides pale-centred, deep rose-pink flowers in summer, followed by almost spherical red hips later in the season. These will be contrasted with a wild display of flowers in pink, purple, blue, and red tones. Hakonechloa macra, commonly known as Japanese forest grass, has been chosen as the baseline fabric of the planting. This eye-catching ornamental grass forms clumps of elegant arching foliage and can be easily maintained throughout each British season.
5 Key Plants
- Parrotia persica - A wide-spreading, often multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with attractive flaking bark. Leaves turn yellow, red and purple in autumn. Small crimson flowers will appear on bare twigs.
- Rosa glauca – A shrub that features a glaucus leaf colour to contrast with other greener leaves.
- Astrantia 'Burgundy Manor’ - Produces large, deep red flowers with spiky centres like a pincushion which establishes quickly and flowers repeatedly.
- Chloranthus sessilifolius 'Domino' - Features a leafy plate that has scented white fluffy flowers with 3 upstanding petals that flower in Apr-May. Their black foliage goes dark green in June.
- Hakonechloa macra - An eye-catching ornamental grass.
(The full plant list will be released in Spring 2023).
The Garden’s Journey to Exbury Gardens, Hampshire and the Rare Dementia Support Centre, London
The aim is to permanently relocate the garden close to the new Rare Dementia Support Centre that The National Brain Appeal is currently fundraising for – up to £7million is needed. The new Centre, the first of its kind in the world, will provide support, guidance and education, both in person and through a virtual centre. (The Centre is expected to be completed in 2024/25).
Before completion of the new Centre, the ‘Rare Space’ garden can be enjoyed after RHS Chelsea Flower Show at Exbury Gardens in the New Forest, Hampshire. More than 100 years old, Exbury Gardens has a stunning display of herbaceous, contemporary, formal and wildflower gardens that are looked after by professional gardeners and volunteers to provide an ever-changing palette of colour for visitors across the seasons. RHS members enjoy free entry to Exbury Gardens throughout March, June and September.
Marcus Agius, Chairman of Exbury Gardens said: “I know that our visitors will be intrigued and enchanted to see this garden. Apart from admiring its beauty, they will be interested to learn how it has been designed to comfort people with rare dementias. Perhaps they will also take away some ideas for their own gardens: how to use certain plants and design to create a sense of calm and well-being.”
Rare Dementia Support (RDS), is a service funded by The National Brain Appeal, that provides information, advice and support to people and their families living with rare dementias. These dementias can strike young, affecting people in their 30s, 40s and 50s, and not necessarily have memory-led symptoms, but more often are seen through changes in vision, language or behaviour which create huge challenges to those living with the condition, and to their families, carers and employers.