Eden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2010

The Places of Change Garden

For the last five years, the Eden Project has been working to help transform the lives of offenders and the homeless through its Growing for Life and Great Day Out programmes. In 2009, the programmes took their message to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show with the silver medal award-winning Key Garden. Working with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), Homeless Link, and the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG), the Eden Project collaborated with 200 homeless people to design, grow and man the garden. Proud as we were to win a silver medal, the real benefit of the garden was the positive effect it had on its participants, who consistently reported a huge confidence boost, new skills, and renewed hope for their future.

 

This year, the Eden Project and its partners intend to build on the success of the Key, with the largest show garden ever seen at Chelsea, and the first  garden visitors will encounter on entering from the Embankment gate. Funded by CLG, the HCA’s Places of Change programme and the London Employer Accord, the Places of Change garden will provide even more roles for the service users involved. The design team, led by Paul Stone, the Eden Project’s award-winning garden designer, consists of design groups at several homeless charities and Roderick James Architects.

Featuring five distinct zones, the Places of Change garden will encourage those involved to develop new skills around planting, gardening, design, construction and carpentry during the site’s development and throughout the week at Chelsea, they will have the opportunity to gain experience of on-site hospitality and operating the garden’s multi-media facilities. These skills will provide the means for many of them to move on to further training and qualifications, accredited by the National Open College Network. In this way, the Places of Change garden intends to be as transformative as the programme itself and help those involved to turn their lives around long-term.

Follow the progress of the garden on the Places of Change blog. You need Flash to view the Places of Change Eden Project garden at Chelsea 2010.

Eden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2009

The Key Garden

The Key garden wins silver at the Chelsea Flower Show

Homeless and disadvantaged people and prisoners around the country had cause to celebrate on Tuesday May 19 2009 when The Key garden won silver at the Chelsea Flower Show. The garden has been created by around 200 volunteers from across the country, most of whom are currently using homelessness services. People in six prisons have also joined in with the growing and planting. Rob Greenhill, a volunteer and service user at Watford New Hope Trust, said today: "It's been a joy to produce the plants and see them integrated in such a beautiful display. The experience has improved my self esteem and I hope will help me gain regular work and stable accommodation."

The Key is the name of the Eden Project’s unique show garden for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The garden is the product of a unique and ambitious collaboration between the Homes and Communities Agency, Communities and Local Government, Eden Project and Homeless Link.

It was designed by Paul Stone of the Eden Project, who already has a clutch of Chelsea gold medals under his belt.

Homeless people and prisoners around the country grewing most of the required stock of 10,000 plants.

Paul Stone, who is working on the design with the charity Architecture sans Frontières-UK, says: “The idea behind the garden is that it echoes the life journeys that people are making. It is a symbol of being locked up - whether in prison or just by a lack of opportunity - but also a means of opening doors and being released." He added: “The Key is a catalyst for long-term change and ongoing work, by increasing employment prospects for the participants who have gained new life skills and training through their involvement in the project.”

You can also read about the experiences of those building the garden on the Key Garden blog.