Royal Horticultural Society launches 2017 Schools Garden Design Contest

Nearly 800 school pupils across the UK will be taking part in a ten-week garden design competition from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) that kicks off next week.

The competition will see teams of green-fingered 12-14 year-olds develop imaginative designs for a new garden for their school or local community.

Back for a second year, the Green Plan It Challenge will be launched at eight regional events over the next few weeks, from Edinburgh to Bristol.

Dr Mike Maunder, the director of Life Sciences at the Eden Project and Olivia O’Brien from Growing Underground, London’s first underground farm, are among the horticulture professionals providing pupils with insider tips and inspiration at the launch events.

Each school team of six will also be paired with an industry mentor, such as a landscape architect, head gardener or plant scientist, who will work with them throughout the project and provide an insider’s glimpse into the powerful benefits of plants to people and places.

The groups will choose a space to tackle and carry out research before developing their ideas into 3-D models. The finished designs will be judged at regional events in December where one winner from each area will be decided by a crack team of industry assessors.

Last year’s winners included a team from Swanlea School in Whitechapel, East London who designed an inventive balcony garden for people living in inner-city blocks of flats with little outdoor space. Their design was brought to life this summer at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

Speaking about the project, RHS Head of Community Outreach, Andrea Van-Sittart said: “The Green Plan It Challenge is designed to support young people to develop a host of new skills including teamwork, creativity and problem-solving, as well as providing an insight into some of the fantastic career possibilities within horticulture.

“Schoolgoers are often not aware of the importance of plants to our everyday lives and the project lets them explore this, resulting in some amazing ideas. It’s testament to the industry’s commitment, that over a hundred professionals will be sharing their passion and love for their jobs with the next generation of gardening experts.”