The Royal Entomological Society Garden
Show Gardens
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An outdoor laboratory, built into a hillside, takes visitors down into the landscape, offering an ‘insect’s eye view’ and a space in which to study. The lab’s roof structure is inspired by a compound insect eye and the lab is used for real scientific research, monitoring and studying insects visiting the garden.
Diverse topography across the site — rammed earth floors, hoggin pathways, dead wood, piles of rubble, bare sand and gabion walls — provide numerous and varied habitats for insects. Water in still pools and flowing streams provides additional important insect habitats and adds interest to the aesthetic and soundscape of the garden.
A dead tree ‘sculpture’, cut into rings and elevated on steel poles, ‘floats’ over biodiverse planting and a standing dead tree and tree stump provide further sculptural habitat. Planting for pollinators and a wide range of other beneficial insects forms a beautiful and resilient scheme that will provide year-round food, habitats and interest.
After the show, the garden will be relocated to a permanent location at IQL Stratford in East London as a long-term opportunity for learning and insect research.
BBC / RHS People’s Choice Award
All Show Gardens
![The RHS and Eastern Eye Garden of Unity](/getmedia/93c51354-7138-4ce3-a824-ca06a76b2a61/Chelsea2023_TIM1141_May-21,-2023.jpg?width=1088&height=612&ext=.jpg)
![Cavernoma on My Mind ](/getmedia/0f179285-f5a9-458e-8f0b-329222a673a7/Chelsea2023_TIM0438_May-21,-2023.jpg?width=1088&height=612&ext=.jpg)
![Hamptons Mediterranean Garden](/getmedia/bf7a98ed-71db-4914-b9c3-5cc6bd510db8/Chelsea2023_TIM0372_May-21,-2023.jpg?width=1088&height=612&ext=.jpg)
![The RHS and Eastern Eye Garden of Unity](/getmedia/93c51354-7138-4ce3-a824-ca06a76b2a61/Chelsea2023_TIM1141_May-21,-2023.jpg?width=1088&height=612&ext=.jpg)
![Cavernoma on My Mind ](/getmedia/0f179285-f5a9-458e-8f0b-329222a673a7/Chelsea2023_TIM0438_May-21,-2023.jpg?width=1088&height=612&ext=.jpg)
![Hamptons Mediterranean Garden](/getmedia/bf7a98ed-71db-4914-b9c3-5cc6bd510db8/Chelsea2023_TIM0372_May-21,-2023.jpg?width=1088&height=612&ext=.jpg)
Get involved
The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.