RHS Chelsea Flower Show’s Magical Rainforest Garden Finds Forever Home

By Jill Dando News

Following the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, The Wildlife Trusts’ British Rainforest Garden, which has been funded by grant-making charity Project Giving Back, is finding a forever home at Bristol Zoo Project. 

Run by conservation and education charity Bristol Zoological Society, the zoo is set within 136 acres of woodland and meadow landscape. The garden will inspire visitors to fall in love with temperate rainforests – one of the UK’s rarest and most precious habitats.  

Inspired by the ambitious 100-year mission of The Wildlife Trusts and Aviva, the UK’s leading insurer, to bring rainforests back to the western edges of the UK, the garden’s legacy will be a permanent educational space just outside Bristol. 

This will be more than a garden: it will be a living classroom, a spark for future conservationists, and a celebration of the fantastic wildlife found on our own doorstep.

• Visitors will follow a path through boulders and fern-lined trails, under a canopy of native trees created from hazels, field maples and silver birch from the show garden.
• Boulders and dead wood will evoke the ancient woodlands which once cloaked our western coast and seating will provide a space to soak up the shade.  
• Lush undergrowth, lichen-encrusted trunks, honeysuckle and ivy will bring the rainforest to life and ferns will thrive in the dappled light. 

The British Rainforest Garden is due to open to the public at Bristol Zoo Project in October in the Sanctuary Garden, which explores the importance of gardens and natural habitats as places of health and wellbeing for people, as well as essential for the future of wildlife.

Justin Morris, Chief Executive of Bristol Zoological Society, says: “We are extremely excited about the arrival of the British Rainforest Garden later this year. It will fit perfectly into our Sanctuary Garden. This area will form the beginning of a new ‘gardens’ biome at Bristol Zoo Project. Visitors will be encouraged to pause and reflect on the value of gardens and natural habitats as places of health and wellbeing, and to consider how they can take action to protect wildlife in these precious environments.”

Garden designer Zoe Claymore says: “I am absolutely delighted that our British rainforest garden has a forever home at Bristol Zoo Project. The chance to educate the next generation of conservationist and gardeners is truly a huge honour and I and my team are proud to play a part in this. Our thanks go to The Wildlife Trusts, Project Giving Back and Aviva for giving us the opportunity to promote the incredibly important habitats our native rainforests support and we look forward to sharing the garden with Bristol Zoo Project visitors later this year.” 

David Schofield, Sustainability Director, Aviva, says: "We are excited that The Wildlife Trusts British Rainforest Garden from this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show will be rehomed at Bristol Zoo Project. This garden highlights Aviva’s commitment to nature's recovery and our place-based approach to building stronger, inclusive communities where everyone can experience nature and its benefits, helping the UK get ready for the future.”

Kathryn Brown, Director of Climate Change and Evidence at The Wildlife Trusts, says: “How magical to rehome this little rainforest garden in a place already loved by generations of families. Children will love playing among the trees – and as their canopies spread and the moss and lichen green the rocks, it’ll come to feel like Harry Potter’s enchanted forest.”

The garden has been designed to be low carbon, with no concrete, clay, peat compost or virgin wood used in the design. All plants (including trees) are sourced from UK nurseries using peat-free compost. 

The garden is sponsored by Project Giving Back and supported by Aviva. 

Visitors are invited to see the garden at site number 340 throughout Chelsea week from Tuesday 20 May to the final day on Saturday 24 of May 2025.

Find out more here: RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025 - British Rainforest Garden | The Wildlife Trusts

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