Samaritans' Listening Garden
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The Samaritans' Listening Garden by Darren Hawkes
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The Samaritans' Listening Garden by Darren Hawkes
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The Samaritans' Listening Garden by Darren Hawkes
The life-changing impact of listening will be celebrated at RHS Chelsea 2023 in a garden designed by Darren Hawkes to mark the 70th anniversary of Samaritans.
The Samaritans’ Listening Garden will depict the challenging journey many people take when they reach out to Samaritans and the comfort and sanctuary they find when speaking to a listening volunteer. Designed to conjure up a wide range of emotions, the garden will be a representation of fear, anxiety and helplessness juxtaposed with relief, support and hope.
At the entrance to the garden, huge curtains of reinforced concrete, supported by thin cables will hover above the delicate foliage of the plants below. Towering above this will be the giant, architectural form of Aralia chapaensis making the entrance to the garden feel brutal and foreboding. The pathway into the garden will appear cracked with deep fissures leading down into the darkness, where the sound of gushing water can be heard. Beyond this, the garden will open out into a welcoming sanctuary as you walk down into a sunken area where a sculptural Oak bench sits under the canopy of a stunning small-leaved Elm (Ulmus minor ‘Jaqueline Hillier’), providing a space that will encourage visitors to talk, be heard and gain perspective on their struggles.
Looking back at the garden at this point, the path trodden can be viewed from a different perspective and some of the obstacles that seemed overwhelming as you entered the garden, will now appear exquisitely crafted, even beautiful as you look at them from behind.
Darren Hawkes said: “Our conceptual garden is inspired by the stories of people who found the courage to reach out to Samaritans in their darkest times. I wanted the garden to feel real and raw and to provoke curiosity as it explores the journey towards good mental health and illustrates that the path towards recovery isn't always straight forward. Ultimately, it is a garden of hope with an important, powerful message.“
PLANTING
Many of the 2,000 plants in the garden have been chosen for their architectural form and varied colour and texture. The garden will include a collection of very rare Aralia chapaensis which together with the Elms (Ulmus minor ‘Jaqueline Hillier’) will provide strong silhouettes throughout the garden. The unusual habit of the Elms dictated many of Darren Hawkes’ design decisions in the garden as he worked with their strange, almost unearthly qualities.
At the front of the garden, the planting will create an inhospitable atmosphere, at odds with the invitation to enter the garden. Here the spikes and thorns of Aralia, Zanthoxyllum, Rosa and Corokia will be used to make the visitor feel hesitant about coming into the garden. As you move through the space, the planting will soften and become less confrontational with Stipa, Rosa, and Aralia continentalis used to entice you into the sunken garden, where the space will feel harmonious and restful.
SCULPTURE
The garden will include two thought-provoking sculptures. The first a swirling vortex of over 3,000 recycled nails, will rise up out of the cracked ground and appear to splatter across the timber boundary, creating a curious relief form that becomes more refined as you move through the space. The second is a bronze figurative sculpture called Listening that has been created especially for the garden by Andrew Litton. This life-size sculpture of a female figure will sit in a quiet corner, looking into the garden, as if waiting to hear the thoughts of those who pass through.
In addition, four green Oak benches, sculpted by craftsman Thomas Rosler, will be positioned throughout the garden to remind us that finding the strength to talk can change your perspective on the challenges you are facing.
MATERIALS AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY
Concrete, steel and oak are the key components of the garden with 95% of the build materials being reclaimed from demolition sites or salvaged from scrap yards to limit the haulage and reliance on new resources. This simple palette of familiar materials will be manipulated and honed by Darren Hawkes and skilled craftsmen who will transform the crude salvage into something precious and valuable to tell the story of crisis to hope. The process is inspired by Kintsugi - a centuries-old Japanese tradition of repairing broken pottery using gold to transform it into a new work of art.
Julie Bentley, Samaritans CEO, said: “Having a Show Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is very special, and a wonderful occasion to help mark our 70th anniversary. Darren Hawkes’ hugely imaginative Samaritans’ Listening Garden perfectly captures the vital role Samaritans volunteers play in helping people during difficult times. I especially love that the garden celebrates and champions the power of listening, which is at the core of every call we take. An often-overlooked way to support our friends, family and those around us, we know listening can help change, and even save lives. We are very grateful to Darren and Project Giving Back for giving us this wonderful opportunity.”