Although this will not come as a surprise to anyone who takes gardening seriously, it will be a theme of the RHS’s various gardening shows in 2016.
For example, Health, Happiness and Horticulture is incorporated in several designs at RHS Chelsea.
- Chris Beardshaw’s collaboration with Morgan Stanley is a distinctive Show Garden that will be relocated to the heart of Great Ormond Street Hospital after the show as a therapeutic space for parents.
- Charlie Albone’s design for Gardena and Husqvarna is inspired by the healing effect and solace found whilst being in a garden.
- Alison Doxey and Stephen Welch have designed ‘The Garden Bed’ as a green space for hospice patients, and
- Paul Martin is creating a Show Garden for Vestra Wealth as a calm space to relax in after a busy day.
‘Healthy gardens, healthy gardeners’ by Coventry University will feature in the Discovery Zone in the Chelsea Great Pavilion, and the exhibit will explore how gardening can be a form of exercise, if undertaken in the correct manner. The interactive feature will be a gardener in a motion-capture suit performing typical gardening activities, with a screen showing how hard the gardener’s muscles are working.