Chelsea Flower Show 2024

The National Autistic Society Garden - Photo © Tammy Marlar

The National Autistic Society garden, co-designed by Sophie Parmenter Studio and Dido Milne of CSK Architects, has won a Silver-Gilt medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

The garden, which covered one of the two largest plots on main avenue, represented the idea of autistic masking - a strategy used by some autistic people, consciously or unconsciously, to appear non-autistic in order to fit in and be accepted in society.

A central mossy dell - the inner mind - was masked from the three outer gardens by a series of cork walls.

These outer gardens were planted with just a small subset of the inner garden’s complex planting palette; a bold colourful drift of one of the flowering species sprinkled through the inner garden flowed through each outer space.

The inner garden was a predominantly green, much calmer sanctuary: the temperature was perceptibly cooler as you entered this space; water running down the rain-chains from the waterfall roof provided a relaxing soundscape; and tactile sensory experiences were offered in the form of carved ‘cup & ring’ marks, sheepskin rugs and the rugged oak bench and chestnut totem poles.