The Savills Garden - RHS Chelsea 2007

Chelsea Flower Show newcomer Tiggy Salt has designed a unique child focused courtyard garden for sponsors Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). CAF’s mission is to inspire people to give to charity, by showing them the potential they have to make a real difference to the causes they care about. CAF can make donations go further by helping people to plan their giving tax-efficiently.

Tiggy's inspiration for the garden has come from the globally famous children’s book entitled 'Where the Wild Things Are' by Maurice Sendak and the current RHS initiative to encourage more children into gardening. The garden will breathe life into the mischievous Max and his adventures in the fantasy world that blossoms in his own bedroom. In the book, the protagonist Max has been sent to bed early without his supper for bad behaviour and as he slips into sleep, he dreams that his bedroom has become a forest. The focal point of the garden is his bed, which will be planted up with a camomile lawn, lavender and passiflora, all plants with sleep inducing properties, to suggest the dreamscape of the story.

Tiggy's garden will help CAF to capture the imagination of audiences at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. Sendak has designed many sets for opera and theatre and as Tiggy discovered, his work demonstrates a fascination with plants. Hence the idea that ‘The Wild Things’ would be a fantastic idea for a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show. Sendak has given his blessing to the project with its aim of profiling the work of CAF and encouraging kids into the garden to kindle their interest in growing things.

On her plant selection Tiggy says: "A taxonomist would have quite a difficult job in precisely identifying the plants within the book, but it has been great fun trying". Irises have been chosen to suggest the strong verticals at the foot of his bed, Hosta to approximate the fat juicy tongue-like plants and then some exuberant specimens such as banana, giant elephants ear, flowering rhubarb, artichoke and angelica to anticipate the arrival of the Wild Things who appear later in the tale.

An important structural feature of the garden will be the moon swing. The moon has always held great significance for Sendak with many of his stories taking place at night with the moon ever present, overseeing events. Fletcher and Myburgh have been commissioned to make a swing with a verdigris finish to more closely convey the colour of moonlight.

This delightful garden is ultimately designed for children over five years. The hope is that if children start to visit shows such as Chelsea in their formative years and associate it with a positive experience, this might help to sow the seeds of interest in plants for the rest of their lives.

CAF aims to create a world in which giving to charity is a recognised part of everyday life. Through the garden – ‘Where the Wild Things are’ – CAF will be able to reach new audiences of donors, people who might never have considered giving, and others who could be using their giving to make even more of an impact.