Bea's sustainable garden design set for Hampton Court Palace Festival

ADAS graduate landscape consultant Bea Tann, the youngest woman to win a medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2022, is this year been chosen to design a garden for the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival.

Entering the ‘Get Started Garden’ category, Bea’s design will explore the theme of ‘Moss Magic’, incorporating the sustainability benefits of moss and woodland plants in garden landscapes will showcase the environmental benefits that can be achieved with small sized gardens.

Bea said: “The idea for this garden came from the environmental benefits of moss. Moss is a really interesting plant, especially for urban gardens, because of its ability to absorb and hold water. It behaves like a sponge, making it an effective and natural solution to flooding and drainage issues. From a sustainability perspective, it’s powerful – a study published in May 2023 found that globally, moss stores around 6.43 billion tonnes more carbon in the soil than bare soil would.

“When I thought about how this concept could be practically applied, I imagined the garden of a new build property. New build homes often have compact gardens and incorporating ideas around sustainable planting shows how these environmentally friendly practices can be applied on a small scale and still deliver impact. There is sometimes a perception that sustainable design planting is messy; here we are showing that these ideas can coexist with a modern look in a contemporary small space. It’s an opportunity to create a vision for sustainable planting that can work in a home build context, increasing its value and delivering on sustainability and environmental benefits.”

Bea’s garden, which is sponsored by ADAS parent company RSK Group, is inspired by her love of woodlands and fairytales.

Following the woodland theme, Bea’s design incorporates a moss lawn with European beech and Scottish red pine feature trees. There will also be natural slate paving , a Corten steel pond and a sunken seating area made from reclaimed timber panels in front of a willow branch screen. The slate paving will be sourced from the roofing tile industry and is made using the byproducts and discarded slate from the manufacture process. All the plants and materials have been sourced within the UK to reduce the garden’s carbon footprint.