London Square Chelsea Pensioners Garden

Project Description

Dave Green Gardens were asked to design the Chelsea Pensioners garden for sponsor London Square for the 2025 RHS Chelsea Flower Show.  Working with the Royal Hospital Chelsea, home of the Chelsea Pensioners, London Square aims to reflect the 300-year-old heritage of “a home for soldiers broken by age and war.” The garden will be a place for the Pensioners to share or to enjoy quiet reflection. It is designed as a private yet accessible space to be enjoyed by different generations, fostering a spirit of participation and keeping active in later years.

The Chelsea Pensioners have been closely involved at every stage. Listening to their stories and feelings have shaped the design and several features link directly to their past experiences and their home at the Royal Hospital.  The woodland space, filled with striking trees and a sheltered, accessible central space with seating upholstered in recycled Pensioners’ Scarlet  uniforms and a world map table offers an immersive, natural environment to encourage the Pensioners, their families and visiting veterans to come together –  away from public view. Vibrant planting to the garden boundaries reflects the ceremonial life of the Pensioners,  with calmer and more textural planting to the centre capturing their more private moments.

Project Year: To be completed in 2025