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Imagine the World to be Different

St James’s show garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show May 2024

St James's Piccadilly CFH 2024 garden 1. Photo Richard Bloom

Under the theme ‘Imagine the World to be Different’, our garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show encourages visitors to cherish the earth and one another. It recognises the importance of gardens as welcoming spaces for healing and contemplation and pays homage to the revitalising qualities of urban green spaces.

This May’s Chelsea garden designed by Robert Myers it will form the basis of a restored, accessible garden at St James’s in London’s West End, where around 300,000 people from all faiths and walks of life seek tranquillity and inspiration each year.

Grant-giving charity Project Giving Back, is sponsoring our garden at Chelsea in support of The Wren Project. The visibility of our garden at the show will help us raise £20m to rejuvenate the historic, Wren-designed church, and particularly to restore our Piccadilly garden.

The Wren Project will make it possible for St James’s to accommodate and amplify our environmental activity and social outreach work with people experiencing homelessness, refugees and asylum-seekers and those persecuted because of their sexuality or identity.

The garden design
At the heart of our Chelsea garden design is the architecture of Wren’s church – an arched window. A new structure, designed by artist Ivan Morison, to house the Caravan Drop-In and Counselling Service, will also feature. In time, this new cabin will be relocated to the restored garden in Piccadilly along with plants from our show garden.

Garden designer Robert Myers takes inspiration from London’s pocket parks and historic churchyards like St James’s which have suffered the scars of wartime bombing yet refuse to give in to destruction. The woodland-style planting focuses on textural foliage with splashes of colour and features wild/pioneer plants, such as chickweed, speedwell and vetch, that are known for resilience and regeneration.

Our Chelsea garden will be a reflective space where nature takes centre stage. Calm, contemplative and uplifting, it will offer a refuge for humans and wildlife.

The Caravan Drop-in and Counselling Service
Our free, seven-day-a-week, drop-in and counselling service welcomes clients from all walks of life. Run in partnership with the Centre for Counselling & Psychotherapy Education since 1982, the Caravan offers a safe and private space for around 5,000 hours of counselling a year. Read more about the Caravan here.

The Wren Project
St James’s needs to raise £20 million. To find out how you can support our campaign to restore the church and garden in Piccadilly, read more here

More about our show garden at Chelsea

Spotted at Chelsea Flower Show 2024

Here are just some of the people who came to say hello – you might spot some familiar faces.

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Thought for the Week – A day in the life of a St James’s ambassador at Chelsea Flower Show

Sonia Lee reflects on her enriching experience as an ambassador for St James’s Piccadilly Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, highlighting the garden’s Gold Award, the enthusiastic public reception.

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St James’s Chelsea Bird Box

Find out about the special, handmade birdhouse featured in St James’s RHS Chelsea garden this year, as seen on the BBC.

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‘Imagine the World to be Different: The St James’s Quartet’

The Sixteen and St James’s Piccadilly reveal new composition by Will Todd in celebration of Chelsea Flower Show.

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Thought for the Week – Birdsong and Hope: Finding Community in St James’s Garden

Lucy Winkett reflects on the power of birdsong to bring hope, even in the middle of a city.

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St James's Piccadilly CFH 2024 garden 1. Photo Richard Bloom

Creating the Chelsea show garden

Discover how St James’s show garden ‘Imagine the World to be Different’ has been created with this short film by our sponsor Project Giving Back.

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D.R. Harris & Co. fragrance

D.R. Harris & Co has developed an exclusive new fragrance to celebrate St James’s participation in RHS Chelsea Flower Show to raise funds for The Wren Project.

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Luke Adam Hawker Prints

Luke has created this special edition print for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show to raise funds for The Wren Project.

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Thought for the Week – Maytime

Lucy reflects on Maytime traditions, the politics of being English and the origins of the Spring Show in west London that has become RHS Chelsea

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St James’s Chelsea Garden Timelapse Footage

From the initial ground-breaking to the final flourish of blossoms, see our RHS garden come to life with this timelapse of the installation on the main avenue at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

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St James’s Chelsea Garden in the Press

Online coverage of the Imagine the World to be Different garden designed by Robert Myers for St James’s and sponsored by Project Giving Back.

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Environmental innovations

Robert Myers, St James’s Chelsea Show Garden designer, explains how prioritising sustainability throughout the projects lifecycle sets a new standard for ecologically-driven practices.

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Robert Myers talking about trees

Landscape architect for St James’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show Garden 2024, Robert Myers, talks about the importance of trees in our show garden design.

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Robert Myers Chelsea garden designer

Meet the garden designer – Robert Myers

Award-winning landscape architect Robert Myers will create a pioneering vision of change in our show garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024, sponsored by grant-making charity Project Giving Back.

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Post-war photos of our garden

After the war of 1939–45 Viscount Southwood provided money for the ‘green’ churchyard to be made into a garden of remembrance ‘to commemorate the courage and fortitude of the people of London’.

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About Project Giving Back

The grant-making charity Project Giving Back has awarded St James’s Piccadilly a show garden at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, called ‘Imagine the World to be Different’.

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