Centrepoint Garden - Crocus At The Chelsea Flower Show 2023

The Centrepoint Garden, designed by Cleve West

Written by: Crocus Plant Doctor, Helen

Last updated: 23rd May 2023

The Centrepoint Garden has won a Gold Medal at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Less of a traditional garden and more of a metaphor for the challenges that young people face when they become homeless, Cleve was lured back to Chelsea after a 7 year hiatus, keen to raise awareness of the valuable work provided by the charity Centrepoint. At first glance the garden appears to be an abandoned, somewhat fragmented space, but if you look closely you’ll see that it’s packed full of symbolism - an abandoned family home slowly becoming enveloped in new, leafy growth - it encapsulates elements of both ruin and rejuvenation.

The ruins of a Victorian town house lie at the heart of the garden.

A once thriving silver birch lies toppled but still supporting an incredibly biodiverse habitat.

The shattered remains of the house is now being enveloped with a different kind of life.

Cleve has chosen a rich and diverse blend of planting, that mixes both native and ornamental species.

120,000 dots make up the painting surrounding the garden, reflecting the number of young homeless people in the UK today.

The garden encapsulates elements of both ruin and rejuvenation.

The overall design of the garden

The ruins of a Victorian town house lie at the heart of the garden. Once a safe, warm and welcoming family home, the hub of the house (the hearth) is still standing, but its shattered remains are now being enveloped with a different kind of life. Even the scattered piles of rubble are showing signs of fresh new growth emerging from the destruction, while across the garden a once thriving silver birch lies toppled, uprooted and decaying, but still supporting (and home to) an incredibly biodiverse habitat.

Behind the scenes snippets

We built the rubble piles and sections of the hearth several months ago, filling cracks and crevices with mosses and weeds that we found around our nursery. Our growers have drawn a few curious looks when they've been spotted diligently watering them! Also, we don't usually supply dead plants for a show garden, but while expanding the reservoir on our nursery, we sadly had to lose one of our birch trees. As soon as Cleve spotted it, he wanted it for his garden.

Planting in the garden

Cleve has chosen a rich and diverse blend of planting, that mixes both native and ornamental species. Rather controversially, he has included many 'pioneer plants', which typically are the first to colonise recently disturbed environments. By teaming these with ornamentals that are often found in a domestic garden (ie. Cordyline australis and Yucca elephantipes), the planting offers glimpses of the past while also embracing a new start. Of his use of wildflowers such as Lamium maculatum (spotted dead nettle), Bellis perennis (common daisy) and Chelidonium majus (greater celandine) - which are often loosely described as 'weeds', Cleve has said “It's nature's way of healing and a good to have an excuse to get weeds into a show garden, when they're generally banned!”

Other design features

The garden is enclosed within the type of hoarding typically seen securing construction sites. Hand painted by Cleve on our nursery, he's adopted a pointillistic approach to incorporate roughly 120,000 dots into his design - a number that echoes that of young homeless people in the UK today. The formal topiary depicted in his screens is in stark contrast to the wilder planting within the garden, but their structure and form definitely add solidity, definition and drama. Look also for the individually designed bird boxes that appear throughout the garden. Crafted by the wood sculptor Johnny Woodford, they provide further reference to homes, habitats and safe havens in whatever form they may take.