Bowles & Wyer create garden celebrating modern nursing

A garden, originally intended to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Florence Nightingale in 2020, will be built by award-winning landscape company Bowles & Wyer and unveiled at RHS Chelsea 2021 to celebrate the importance of nursing in the 21st century.

Sponsored by the Burdett Trust for Nursing and created by designer Robert Myers, The Florence Nightingale Garden – A Celebration of Modern Nursing will see Bowles & Wyer introduce innovative bio-based building materials to create an imagined hospital garden, inspired by Florence Nightingale’s pioneering views on nursing, at a time when the global spotlight is centred on health and well-being.

The bio-based timber being used in the construction is a 21st century representation of key materials that Florence Nightingale advocated for hospital construction in her work promoting the benefits of hospital environment on patient recovery.

Work has already begun on the construction of a large 60ft timber pergola, that will stretch the length of the garden and enclose it on three sides to form the central feature of the courtyard garden. It has been built using cross-laminated timber (CLT) – an engineered wood that has become known as the ‘concrete of the future’ due to its potential as an eco-friendly alternative to traditional building materials.  It is the first time that Bowles & Wyer has worked with CLT and it will be the first time it has featured on this scale at RHS Chelsea.

The low-impact, non-toxic timber, made from honey-coloured Douglas Fir, has been constructed in modular parts and is ready to be transported to the showground in September. Pre-cambered rods and tubes will support the timber, reducing the need for steel to a bare minimum and allowing for easy relocation at the end of the show.  

Dan Riddleston, Managing Director at Bowles & Wyer, said:

The irony that a worldwide pandemic should be the reason a garden celebrating the founder of modern-day nursing was cancelled in 2020, is not lost on us. Having progressed so far with the development of this garden in the last year we are now delighted to have the opportunity to finally bring it to the Chelsea showground.

There is a lovely synergy between the modern materials and techniques we are using to build the garden and Florence Nightingale’s own advocacy of modern materials to ensure healthy environments in the hospitals she inspired.

We are constantly looking at ways to reduce our carbon footprint, particularly at Chelsea where the gardens are often transitory, and the use of CLT means that the pergola can be constructed very quickly, will require minimal transport and will create very little waste. Added to that, the trees used in the production of CLT actually absorb carbon, thereby off-setting the carbon produced through its manufacture.

Elsewhere in the garden, a reflecting pool will reference Florence Nightingale’s insights into drainage and cleanliness and plants will symbolise her own pressed flower collection as well as those with strong medicinal properties that were used in the 19th century.  In addition, images of Florence Nightingale will appear in slightly opaque windows and echoes of her handwriting will seem to be inscribed onto the walls to embody her extensive writing in support of healthcare reform.

Surrounding the pergola, perimeter walls will reference the ‘pavilion’ hospital layouts advocated by Florence Nightingale and a striking installation at the front of the garden will also display the recently redesigned Nightingale Nurse badge, denoting both her enduring legacy and her ability to inspire the next generation of nurses.

With sustainability central to the build, Bowles & Wyer worked hard to find specialists to meet the brief and has worked with a number of suppliers including CLT expert Jim Johnstone of ConstruktCLT Ltd.

Approximately 3,700 plants will be planted in the garden as part of a new Autumn planting palette for the September show.  Trees, hedges and shrubs already reserved have been overseen by Deepdale Trees in the last year, while other plants have been sourced by Hortus Loci for the 2021 garden.

Robert Myers said:

Dan and I had spent many months developing the garden before the show was cancelled, so it is really exciting that we will finally see it come to life on Main Avenue in September.  Having Bowles & Wyer on board has taken a huge amount of pressure off allowing me to really enjoy the process.  Dan is renowned in the industry for producing work of the highest standard and is brilliant at handling any of the challenges that Chelsea throws at him.  Work to date has progressed with assiduous care and attention  and I’m certain the garden will be built to the highest standard.

Shirley Baines, Chief Executive at the Burdett Trust for Nursing added:

Bowles & Wyer are highly regarded and our experience of working with them in 2020 has shown that they will deliver Robert’s vision for the garden exactly as his beautiful plans and drawings envisage. Having never sponsored a garden at RHS Chelsea before we were keen right from the start to work with a team who would help guide us through the process with their knowledge and experience.  I’ve no doubt that it can be achieved this year.