Building The Transient Garden – Craftsmanship, Collaboration & a Silver-Gilt Finish

Article by: Lauren Ailish-Skinner

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Bringing a garden to RHS Chelsea Flower Show is always a huge undertaking, but this year’s journey felt particularly special for the Garden Club London team. The Transient Garden, designed by Rebecca Lloyd-Jones, was awarded a Silver-Gilt medal in the Balcony Garden category, while the build itself received an “Excellent” grading from the RHS judges; recognition we are incredibly proud of as both a studio and build team.

From the very beginning, this garden was about adaptability, movement and creating beauty within temporary urban spaces. While the concept explored transience, the process behind it relied on an enormous amount of commitment, collaboration and craftsmanship from everyone involved in bringing it to life.

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Translating Concept Into Construction

Balcony gardens may occupy a smaller footprint than the Main Avenue show gardens, but the technical challenge is no less demanding. Every material, finish and planting detail is viewed up close (by judging and public) and every square metre has to work exceptionally hard. Chelsea gardens are always the result of many months of conversations, revisions, sourcing and problem-solving long before build week even begins. You then get 8-10 days to pull together a years worth of ideas before presenting it to the judges and wider public for show week.

The transient concept shaped every stage of the build process. One of the biggest challenges for the team was creating a space that felt effortless, settled and lived-in, despite being entirely temporary in nature. Thankfully, we had an exceptionally skilled team behind the build who were able to bring that vision to life.

Drawing on Tomas’s previous Chelsea experience and Josh’s background in product design, the collaboration brought together technical precision and creative thinking in equal measure. The teamwork, dedication to the craft and hard work through the long days from Max, Josh, Tomas, Rob and Rebecca made this garden possible. From the first brick slip to the final details, the skill, problem-solving and care showed in every part of the build. The result was a carefully considered build, complete with bespoke furniture pieces designed specifically for the space, helping the garden feel cohesive, functional and quietly refined.

Collaboration Across Suppliers & Partners

Chelsea gardens are never created in isolation, and The Transient Garden was the result of an enormous collaborative effort between designers, contractors, suppliers and sponsors.

A huge contribution came from sponsor Hamptons, who partnered with Garden Club London for the fourth time at Chelsea. Their continued support helped bring the project from concept to reality and reinforced the garden’s relevance to contemporary urban living.

The hard landscaping palette was anchored by beautiful materials from Ca’ Pietra, whose terracotta-toned Brewhouse porcelain introduced warmth, texture and permanence to the space. Rebecca Lloyd-Jones described the material selection as taking “a horticulturist’s view of hard landscaping”, ensuring surfaces worked in harmony with planting rather than competing against it.

The brick slip detailing for the back wall, supplied by Vande Moortel, added further depth and tactility, while structural elements from Harrod Horticultural supported the garden’s vertical composition, a feature widely recognised across this year’s Balcony Garden category as a key small-space design trend.

The planting scheme was realised with the help of Form Plants and North Hill nurseries and maintained in situ thanks to the rich growing media supplied by RocketGro.

Meanwhile, support from Landscapeplus and Parker & Bartley brought the atmosphere to life with the careful lighting. And finally there would be no planting without the lightweight GRP planters that were supplied by Europlanters.

A Team Effort From Start to Finish

The finished balcony balanced craftsmanship with restraint; avoiding over-complication in favour of clarity, atmosphere and usability. In a year where Chelsea celebrated smaller, more attainable urban gardens, The Transient Garden resonated because it felt realistic as well as aspirational.

Receiving Silver-Gilt and an Excellent construction grading was a proud recognition of that collective effort, and a testament to everyone involved in bringing the garden to life. At the end of the day our gardens are designed and built by people, for people.