Funding for Charities and Designers to Create a Fully Funded Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Grants for UK charities and designers working in partnership to create a show garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025.

Project Giving Back (PGB) is a grant-making organisation that exists to fund gardens for good causes at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, using it as a platform to raise awareness of that charity, and afterwards funds the relocation of a garden to a permanent site where it can continue to benefit the charity.

UK charities and designers who have already formed a partnership can apply for a grant to design a Show garden, Sanctuary garden or a small garden in the ‘All About Plants’ category inside the Great Pavilion at RHS Chelsea Flower Shower 2025. Applications are also welcome from a range of good causes, including community interest companies and not-for-profit organisations.

There is particular interest in hearing from charities with UK-wide reach, especially those with plans to relocate the garden to areas not previously covered by PGB supported gardens, in particular, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Northeast England and East Anglia.

Applications for:

  • Show Gardens will be accepted from designers who have previous show garden experience either at RHS Chelsea or at another RHS flower show, depending on size of garden applied for. Working with a UK registered charity, the garden should tell a strong and engaging story about the cause.
  • All About Plants is open to designers who are new to RHS Chelsea Flower Show, nurseries, plant societies and botanic gardens, with a vision that focuses on great planting combinations for a good cause. Designers in this category are encouraged to submit concepts and designs that are at least 80% planted and should note that excavations are not possible in the Great Pavilion.

The value of funding varies depending on the size of the garden. There is no set minimum or maximum, each is judged case by case, based on designs and budgets of each application. For the smaller ‘All About Plants’ gardens funding is usually under £100,000, but for the large Show Gardens it will be hundreds of thousands. The funding is usually made via the main designer who designs and creates the garden and manages construction contractors.

The grants are to be used to cover the costs of creating the garden (eg design fees, plants, hard landscaping, transport) and everything involved with creating the garden at RHS Chelsea, and then the majority of costs towards relocating the garden.

The deadline for expressions of interest is 3 November 2023.

(This report was the subject of a GRANTfinder Newsflash.)