Show Garden: The Macmillan Legacy Garden: Gift The Future

Macmillan Cancer Support’s garden at the 2022 RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival celebrates the incredible kindness of ordinary people who gift a future of hope for those living with cancer. 

Designed by Sean A Pritchard - who won a silver gilt medal at last year’s Harrogate Flower Show - Macmillan’s Legacy Garden tells the story of how leaving a gift in a will can help to provide vital care and support for people living with cancer in the future. 

The garden’s symmetrical design reflects how one act of kindness inspires another, and formal, straight lines echo the sense of structure and stability that Macmillan provides to people with cancer - often at times of deep uncertainty. 

Elsewhere in the garden, a self-fulfilling water feature symbolises the importance of giving to the continued vital work of the charity. An emphasis on threes throughout the space – three levels, paving patterns, shrubs, benches and pergola structures – signifies how gifts in wills account for a third of Macmillan's fundraised income, providing vital funds for the charity’s work. Generously planted borders also offer a home for wildlife. 

All the bespoke structures throughout the garden, including an ornamental pergola and benches, carry the message ‘gift the future’, encouraging visitors to consider what they can do today to inspire a brighter tomorrow for people living with cancer.

There are three million people living with cancer throughout the UK, and with this number expected to rise to 4 million by 2030, it’s more important than ever to ensure Macmillan’s range of services are there to support people, both now and in the future.  

Plant List

Perennials and Grasses

Trees and Multi-stem Shrubs

Topiary