The M&G Garden

Award-winning landscape and garden designer Andy Sturgeon returns with an Arts and Crafts inspired garden for M&G Investments, the official sponsor of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Celebrating traditional craftsmanship and the beauty of natural materials, Andy has created a ‘New English’ style of garden which hopes to capture the fundamental design principles of the Arts & Crafts movement.

Displaying a strong asymmetric layout, a series of formal paths and terraces will combine with a mirrored water channel to create a succession of garden rooms delineated by striking monolithic walls and a 5-metre ‘floating’ oak bench.

Natural materials including copper, oak and Purbeck stone will be shown in their raw beauty, with rustic textures and visible construction techniques. A dynamic ‘energy wave’ sculpture will form a dramatic focal point, crafted from hammer-finished copper rings and spilling across borders and pathways throughout the garden.

A planting palette of soft pink, white, lilac and yellow will gently soften the formal architectural edges of the garden and contrast with the aged copper sculpture and the rich patina of the treated concrete walls.

Plants list

Aconitum 'Ivorine' - monkshood ‘Ivorine’
Anemanthele lessoniana - pheasant’s tail grass
Aquilegia viridiflora 'Chocolate Soldier' - columbine ‘Chocolate soldier’
Aquilegia vulgaris - columbine
Aquilegia vulgaris 'Alba' - white columbine
Angelica archangelica - St. Michael’s flower
Anthriscus sylvestris - cow parsley
Aruncus dioicus 'Horatio' - goat’s beard
Aruncus sylvestris - goat’s beard
Asarum europaeum - European wild ginger
Astrantia major 'Large White' - masterwort ‘Large White’
Cenolophium denudatum - Baltic parsley
Cercidiphyllum japonicum - Katsura tree
Deschampsia cespitosa - tufted hair grass
Epilobium angustifolium 'Album' - white-flowered rosebay willowherb
Epimedium rubrum - red barrenwort
Equisetum hyemale - rough horsetail
Geum rivale - avens
Geum rivale 'Album' - avens ‘Album’
Geum 'Lemon Drops' - avens ‘Lemon Drops’
Gillenia trifoliata - Bowman’s root
Hesperis matronalis - sweet rocket
Ilex crenata - Japanese holly
Iris chrysographes 'Black Form' - black iris
Iris sibirica 'Shirley Pope' - Siberian iris
Nandina domestica - heavenly bamboo
Paeonia 'Claire de Lune' - peony ‘Claire de Lune’
Polystichum 'Braunlaub' - shield fern ‘Braunlaub’
Sanguisorba menziesii - burnet
Thalictrum 'Black Stockings' - meadow rue
Trollius 'Cheddar' - globe flower