Books and Reading Centrestage at Chelsea Flower Show 2023

Two gardens at the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show running this week in London celebrate the importance of books and reading.

In the Balcony Gardens category, The Doorstep Library Garden: Words Take You Places celebrates the community-focused children's literacy charity Doorstep Library. This celebrates the importance of rainforests as well as the need to encourage children to read.

Designed by Gini Denison-Pender of Beautiful Wild, it takes the form of a small garden with a window seat and a selection of books curated by Ultimate Library on translucent glass shelves within a light timber structure and set in a calm spot among ferns and plants reminiscent of temperate and tropical rainforests. The garden window seat will be repurposed after the Show and live on at the Max Roach Centre in Brixton.

Also in the Balcony Area is the Reading Room Garden, designed by Katherine Holland who says it has been inspired by her love of reading a good book while in the company of plants. and sponsored by The Folio Society.

It is a green oasis designed as a relaxing spot in which to read which includes a gentle water feature and a back wall with a cut-out feature, reminiscent of bookends. According to the RHS: "The garden embraces the transportive effect that books can have.