Introducing the Sue Ryder Grief Kind Garden

I’m thrilled to be working with Sue Ryder on an All About Plants Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024, sponsored by Project Giving Back.

I previously collaborated with Sue Ryder at the RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival in 2022 on the award-winning “A Journey” garden, telling the story of a journey of grief. I’ll be continuing the conversation around grief in my RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden design this year, drawing on my own experience and passion for the charity’s work.

Garden Design Details

After the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024, the garden will be relocated to Sue Ryder St John’s Hospice in Bedford, so several aspects of the garden design have been inspired by the local area. For instance, I have taken inspiration from Bedford’s history in lace production, using some of the organic shapes from the Midlands ‘Bud’ lace to create the designs for the planting borders and York stone paving in the garden.

To ensure year-round interest, I have selected a range of sensory perennial plants and unusual specimen trees, including:

• Heptacodium miconioides – a plant with deep green foliage and pretty clusters of scented flowers in late summer

• Rhamnus asplenifolia – a tree with filigree lace foliage

• Tilia henryana – a multi-stemmed form of the tree, which has textural leaves and fragrant flowers

At the heart of the garden, there will be a welcoming meeting space with three chairs set around a coffee table, highlighting the importance of starting conversations around grief with others. During the show, there will be a rotating display of personal objects (both my own and belonging to Sue Ryder’s volunteers) symbolising loved ones who have died.

When the garden arrives at its eventual home in Sue Ryder St John’s Hospice, it will provide a long-lasting legacy as a dedicated space for grieving. It will be able to accommodate varying mobility needs and offer a place of solace not just for hospice staff and patients, but for their families and the local community too.

Why “Grief Kind”?

The Sue Ryder Grief Kind campaign is one that is so close to my heart. The Grief Kind movement encourages people to be there when it matters and aims to equip them with the knowledge and tools they need to support themselves, or those who are grieving.

My own experiences of grief, and other people’s misunderstanding of it, has made me want grief to be talked about more openly, to help support those who are grieving and those who are close to them.

At the RHS Hampton Court show, we found so many people connected with the space and shared their stories of grief with us, highlighting a real need to discuss it. So, for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, I really wanted to build upon the conversations we started about grief using the medium of plants. I hope the Sue Ryder Grief Kind Garden will encourage people to have these very important conversations around grief, whilst surrounded by nature and see it as a place of solace to help to learn to live with grief.

Heidi Travis, Chief Executive at Sue Ryder, says: “Sue Ryder is delighted to be working with Katherine Holland on this exciting opportunity with Project Giving Back at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024.

“We firmly believe that together, we can make sure everyone has access to the right support, at the right time, so no one has to face grief alone. We hope that visitors to our Grief Kind Garden will reflect on their own or others’ grief by connecting with this space. We hope people leave it feeling confident to start open conversations about grief and having a better understanding of what good grief support looks like."

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