Discover the uplifting Memoria & GreenAcres Transcendence Garden, designed to inspire conversations about life and loss

As one of the 12 show gardens on Main Avenue at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the Memoria & GreenAcres Transcendence Garden is certainly set to be a destination that will get people talking.

Designed by Gavin McWilliam and Andrew Wilson of McWilliam Studio, the garden is centred around opening up positive conversations about the end of life. It is hoped that visiting the garden will encourage people to discuss the often hard-to-broach topic of death and share their dying wishes with loved ones or offer support to those who are grieving.

Sponsored by Darwin Alternatives, its design is influenced by McWilliam’s and Wilson’s personal experiences of loss, as well as drawing on the important services that Memoria and GreenAcres offer to grieving families.

The duo has channelled their own personal experiences of loss to create a truly thoughtful space that invites visitors to feel a sense of peace, while celebrating life at the same time.

Located on Main Avenue, it will be the first show garden to greet guests upon arrival through the main entrance to the show ground.

Instantly impressive, the garden boasts tall, multi-stemmed Gleditsia tricanthos trees, which McWilliam and Wilson chose for their elegant, characterful branching structure and light canopy, creating a calming dappled shade below. The height of the canopy is designed to emphasise upward movement, while drawing the focal point to the aperture in the pavilion structure. ?

A thoughtful combination of shrubs, ferns, groundcover and perennials envelope visitors in nature and beauty as they enter the garden, before arriving at a shallow film of moving water, creating a sense of peaceful movement.?

Limestone is used throughout, some of which is rough and textured, to reflect that life isn’t always as simple or straightforward as one might expect.

The central pathway provides a clear focus within the garden, but McWilliam and Wilson have also cleverly incorporated less obvious ways of moving through the space to signify that the pathway of life isn’t always clearly set out.

The cantilevered pavilion brings showstopping drama to the garden. Designed to be minimalist and pure, a central skylight opens a view to the sky and the cloudscape above, drawing the eye upward and delivering a dynamic light pattern to contrast the shadow of the canopy.

Below the canopy itself, the designers have selected plants to create a transitory quality, featuring elegant, muted colour palettes with bright flecks dotted throughout to represent the brighter points in life. Planting is randomised in billowing clumps, set within gravel and occasional paving. As with the limestone, some textured plants, such as Bergenia, Acanthus and Vitex, have been included to reflect the unpredictability of life.

Gavin McWilliam said:

Many people associate traditional memorial landscapes as being very grey, heavy, and negative spaces, often lacking in spirituality, beauty and opportunity to celebrate life. We wanted to create somewhere that is as calm and tranquil as it is inspiring and uplifting, offering somewhere to reflect and remember loved ones as well as a place to have open and honest discussions around death and dying.

The garden will immerse visitors in the healing power of nature through thoughtful design, beautiful planting schemes and clever use of water and light.

To achieve this, we have incorporated a range of contrasting plants, shrubs and trees of varying heights, textures and colours, while playing with lighting, and infrastructural elements to reflect that life features both beautiful moments and more difficult times, often leading us down unexpected paths.

Follow the progress of the garden build on Instagram and Facebook.

Find out more about the show gardens at #RHSChelsea on our website https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/gardens