Garden of Hope at Chelsea Flower Show

Garden designer and TV presenter Arit Anderson came across my work at Royal Horticultural Society Hampton Court Palace in the summer of 2021. She’d seen some bricks I’d made to decorate part of the path element for Dutch designer Carien von Boxtel’s cut flower garden. Arit was in the process of creating “Garden of Hope”, a show garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show a few months later. She was really keen to record the plants she’d used, and she liked the idea of commissioning a triptych, with one panel in full colour.

Unusually that year, because of COVID restrictions, the show had been moved from its traditional week in May to September, so I was working with autumnal plants such as salvia, meadow rue, and dahlias. Because of their soft petals, casting dahlias is never easy!

It was a privilege to work with Arit, who completely understood that my role was not unlike a court painter (an artist who painted for members of a royal family). I was charged with keeping an accurate record of an event that had been so important and significant for her.