The Morgan Stanley Health Cities Garden

This project builds on Morgan Stanley’s 40+ year commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of children through philanthropic community involvement.

Through the garden design, Chris has taken a holistic view and considered the mechanism of what makes a city healthy and therefore, what gives rise to a healthy community.  The formal geometry of the hedges, paths and walls, symbolises the physical infrastructure of a community. The internal, interwoven knot garden creates a framework for Chris’ vibrant perennial planting which denotes the social diversity within a community. 

The understorey of contrasting and flowing perennials are punctuated with sparkling vertical spires which create a cloud of colour to draw the planting together in a harmonious tapestry. The plants are diverse in their geographic origin, texture and character, but they coexist to form a successful community.

Star Plants

Chris, who has won 9 RHS gold medals and The People’s Choice Award an unprecedented three times at Chelsea, is renowned for his verdant and original planting schemes.  Having begun his own career working in a small nursery, Chris is passionate about promoting the skills and expertise of some of the UK’s smaller, lesser known growers who he believes can often provide a more unusual selection of plants.  This year he has worked with several nurseries to grow the key plants for the garden.

Stunning blue spires of the hundreds of Camassia in the garden create a cloud of colour that draws the planting scheme together harmoniously. Chris chose Camassia for their beauty and striking colour.  Other herbaceous perennials in the garden include, Geranium palmatum, Anchusa Loddon Royalist, Papaver somniferum and Primula Bulleyana.

Plant list   

Hedging
Buxus sempervirens
Taxus baccata

Trees
Acer campestre

Shrubs
Hydrangea petiolaris

Herbaceous
Alchemilla mollis
Anchusa Loddon Royalist
Anthemis cupaniana
Aquilega vulgaris Blue Barlow
Asplenium scolopendrium
Brunnera macrophylla Jack Frost
Camassia leichtlinii ‘Blue Heaven’
Camassia leichtlinii ‘Caerulea’
Camassia cusickii Zwanenberg
Camassia quamash
Camassia quamash ‘Orion’
Cirsium atropurpureum
Dryopteris affinis
Dryopteris affinis crispa
Dryopteris lepidopoda
Euphorbia ascot rainbow
Euphorbia amygdaloides Red Wing
Euphorbia griffithii Fireglow
Eupatorium rugosum chocolate
Geranium macrorrhizum czakor
Geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’
Geranium palmatum
Geranium sylvaticum 'Mayflower'
Geranium sylvaticum Album
Geum Princess Juliana
Hakenchloa macra
Hosta Devon Green
Hosta Krossa Regal
Hosta Patriot
Hosta sieboldii var elegans
Iris Mer du Sud
Iris Sable
Lupinus Masterpiece
Matteucia struthiopteris
Nepeta subsessilus
Onoclea sensibilis
Penstemon Riding Hood Red
Polystichum setiferum Congestum
Primula japonica Apple Blossom
Primula beesiana
Primula Bulleyana
Saliva nemerosa Caradonna
Saxifraga urbium
Stachys lantana
Tellima grandiflora
Thalictrum Black Stockings
Verbascum Merlin