Award-winning designer Tom Stuart-Smith is to design the RHS's largest ever feature garden at the new RHS Badminton Flower Show in July this year.
Following his gold medal-winning garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year for Tate Britain, Tom Stuart-Smith will take on the 2,400m2 feature garden at Badminton. The Julia Rausing Garden will be the largest garden ever seen at an RHS show and will celebrate the life and work of philanthropist Julia Rausing.
The huge garden is the equivalent to nine Wimbledon tennis courts and will feature a central terrace and fountain, woodland edge planting, a dry meadow of drought tolerant perennials, a wildflower meadow with lime trees and beehive. The garden is inspired by the pastoral setting at Badminton Estate and will have views over the lake and Badminton House. Visitors will be encouraged to experience the garden on meandering paths and be 'fully immersed' in its planting.
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Tom Stuart-Smith said: “It is an honour and a joy to design a garden to celebrate the legacy of Julia Rausing, whom I knew well. She loved gardens, and this is a tribute to her work supporting garden projects and causes across health, welfare, and the arts. Her generosity is reflected in a design where visitors are welcomed into the heart of the garden and can experience its beauty up close."
After the show, the herbaceous plants will be sold to raise funds for Horatio's Garden.
Tom Stuart-Smith comes to The Julia Rausing Garden fresh from RHS Chelsea Flower Show where his Tate Britain Garden was an evocation of how art, nature and community come together and represented the new Clore Garden at Tate Britain which was made possible by the Clore Duffield and The Julia Rausing Trust.
Elsewhere at RHS Badminton pop icon Will Smith will be creating his first exhibit at an RHS Show alongside Jamie Butterworth. Out of the Shadows is an exhibit interpreting Carl Jung's 'Shadow Self' - the part of ourselves we keep hidden from the world - through planting. Three planted cubes will show the journey from introspection and isolation to openness and the embrace of possibility.
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Will Young said: “I’d been looking at Jungian shadow work for some time and thought it was fascinating and could translate so well into planting and a garden installation. I’d like people to see how density and shade can be beautiful and as a metaphor, encourage people to look into their own psyche as beauty often hides in the dark.”
Will Young started his YouTube channel Will Young's Garden Diary three weeks ago, following his renewed focus on gardening to showcase the transformation of his own walled garden.
Also announced for RHS Badminton today is Perfume Pavilions - a feature from Nicholson's Garden Design which celebrates botany as the source of scent and perfume. Visitors can expect honeysuckl, daphne and phlox alongside herbs and colourful plants.
RHS Badminton is one of two new events announced by the RHS this year and will run at the Badminton Estate 8-12 July.
