Preview: British Red Cross’ First Ever Chelsea Flower Show Garden

Every spring, the Chelsea Flower Show takes over West London, marrying beautiful scenery, lavish socialising and trailblazing biodiversity strategies and conversations. Such an idyllic amalgam attracts plenty of charities to the cause – including 2023’s Best Garden winner Horatio’s Garden, and 2024’s Gold medal winners WaterAid. It seems 2025 will follow suit, and the latest charity to reveal its plans is the British Red Cross. Here’s what you need to know about the ‘Here for Humanity’ garden and its award-winning designer.

Chelsea Flower Show 2025: British Red Cross’ ‘Here For Humanity’ Garden

Humanitarian charity British Red Cross will make its Chelsea Flower Show debut in 2025, presenting the ‘Here for Humanity’ garden. Designed by six-time RHS Gold Medal winner John Warland, the garden will feature alpine plants from countries including the UK, Türkiye, Morocco and Ethiopia – all locations where the British Red Cross has conducted lifesaving work in the face of recent disasters and emergencies. Just as alpine plants survive (and thrive) in the most extreme conditions, so can humanity.

‘We are delighted to have our very first garden at Chelsea Flower Show in 2025,’ shares British Red Cross CEO Béatrice Butsana-Sita. ‘It’s a brilliant opportunity to provide the public with a greater understanding of our lifesaving work, highlighting the importance and strength of our neutrality in an increasingly complex and polarizing world. Our garden will be one of hope and we are incredibly excited to share this with our volunteers, supporters and the public.’

A mock up of the ‘Here for Humanity’ Garden

‘The British Red Cross is an organisation that deserves to tell its story,’ garden designer Warland adds. ‘It has an incredible history which is worthy of recognition and celebration and its impact and presence in the world today, and ambition to be there for those in crisis for the next century, is beyond inspiring. It’s an honour to be trusted with the responsibility of relaying this story to the public.’

Warland is joined by Tom Banniester on the design team, who also received a Gold Medal and was awarded Best in Class at 2024’s Chelsea Flower Show. Together, they have designed a contemporary alpine garden featuring interlocking column-like hexagonal planters, representing the charity’s 191 national branches across the globe. Areas of scree and crevices will provide a home for the unique, international collection of alpine plants.

As with all Chelsea Flower Show gardens, the Here for Humanity Garden will have an afterlife: it will be relocated to the ground of Maudsley Hospital in Denmark Hill, South London – and the modular design will make the move even easier. The South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust provides the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK. The garden will be a space for patients, carers and staff to relax and enjoy the healing power of nature.

Chelsea Flower Show 2025

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show will return to the Royal Hospital Chelsea (London SW3 4SR) from Tuesday 20 to Saturday 24 May 2025. Tickets can be booked at rhs.org.uk