The Plants With Purpose Garden

The Plants With Purpose Garden, co-designed by HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh in collaboration with Alan Williams of Landform Consultants

This year, for the first time, the central garden feature will be co-designed and built by HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh in collaboration with Alan Williams of Landform Consultants. The Plants With Purpose Garden will highlight the importance of healthy soil and an understanding of how food is grown, and will reflect The Duchess’s love of gardening, and passion for encouraging people to grow plants with purpose. Her Royal Highness dedicates much of her time to championing opportunities for young people to forge a career in the British food industry, supporting sustainable food production, and engaging everyone with where our food comes from. 

Speaking about the garden Her Royal Highness said: “One of the things I most love about the Royal Windsor Flower Show is the way it encourages people to get growing by putting their hands in the soil and learning about where their food comes from. Productive plants that we grow to eat and use in our everyday lives are a brilliant route into gardening, helping to nurture an appreciation of the magic of nature. I am so excited to see this garden come to life, and to share it with show visitors in June.” 

The garden will be packed with fruiting trees and shrubs, underplanted with aromatic herbs, wildflowers and perennial vegetables. Alongside productive raised beds will be borders of self-seeding perennials offering food and shelter for bees and other beneficial insects, birds and other wildlife, ensuring the garden is welcoming to all. A central table, crafted from a fallen tree, will provide a space for community, family and friends to gather, share knowledge and exchange seeds and plants, while enjoying a shared picnic. After the show, plants and garden features will be repurposed into schools piloting the new Nature Studies Programme funded by proceeds from the Royal Windsor Flower Show. 

“We are thrilled HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh has helped design our central feature garden and can’t wait to see visitors’ reaction to it in the summer,” says Alexandra Denman, Show Director of the Royal Windsor Flower Show. “This year’s show theme celebrates the vital balance between people, plants and the planet, reminding us that true sustainability begins with connection — to the soil beneath our feet, the communities we nurture, and the living world that sustains us. The Plants With Purpose Garden will be a beautiful representation of that and we’re all so excited to see it come to life.” 

The garden will be designed and built by Landform Consultants and is supported by Allgreen, Creepers Nursery, HB Oak Frames, Hartwell & Co and Carbon Gold.