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Discover the Greener Skills Garden: A Space for Growth and Inspiration

Our New Shoots and Science & Collections teams have joined forces with garden designer Dave Green to bring this garden from vision to life. New Shoots is the RHS initiative to increase the number and diversity of individuals accessing horticultural careers. As part of this objective, the RHS identified the need for practical, hands-on spaces within our gardens to provide participants the opportunity to experience the latest horticultural techniques.

In addition, we also wanted to bring to life more of our RHS Science research around planet-friendly gardening to share with and encourage our visitors.

Sustainability at the Heart of Design

Aligned with our goal to become net positive for nature and people, the garden showcases sustainable gardening practices backed by cutting-edge research from our Science team. Our Planet-friendly Gardening tips are shared for visitors, members, and learners, providing advice for environmentally conscious gardening. The main planet-friendly themes are:

• Slowing the flow – how to manage water in and through your garden,
• Carbon – see how carbon is stored, or released, through gardening activities,
• Biodiversity – discover how you can make a garden welcoming for people and wildlife.

Learn more about our sustainability strategy and how you can incorporate eco-friendly practices into your own gardening journey.

A Garden for Learning and Growing

The Greener Skills Garden will host a variety of New Shoots programmes, including Youth Volunteers, the Green Skills Programme, and tailored career taster sessions for schools and community groups. Beyond these programmes, the space will also serve as a practical hub for our Secondary Education team, Adult Learning courses, Community Outreach projects, and School of Horticulture students, offering opportunities for hands-on learning and skills assessments.

The garden has been designed to be as accessible and inclusive as possible within the garden setting, to help participants of all backgrounds and experience levels benefit from the space.

How is the Garden Laid Out?

There are two main components to the garden. The first is an accessible outer path that will be open to visitors during garden opening hours. Along this path, the majority of our planet-friendly gardening tips are shared in a variety of displays, starting at our garden shed (split across the path). The second area of the garden is the inner core – at times, we will need to segregate this area of the garden to safely provide sessions for schools or vulnerable groups. When the gates are closed, we kindly ask that you do not enter the inner garden; however whenever the gates are open, we welcome all visitors to explore the inner garden (although the polytunnel, composting toilet and tool shed are only accessible by staff and volunteers).

Where are all the plants?

All of the planting in this new garden will be carried out under the guidance of the New Shoots team with participants of the programme, or those facilitated by our communities or school team. This includes Youth Volunteers, Green Skill Programme participants and school or community groups taking part in careers taster sessions. The main structural planting will be carried out by a mix of these groups over the next three years, with a focus on autumn planting.

In addition to this, there will be plenty of seasonal displays using plants propagated and grown on from within the garden, which includes the assessment beds for our students. Once the assessments are complete, our Youth Volunteers will create summer displays based on their chosen themes. For 2026, two of these themes are Asteraceae and Medicinal Plants.

We look forward to welcoming you to visit the garden and we hope you will keep coming back to see it grow and evolve along with our learners.

To find out more about our New Shoots programme and get involved if you are interested in exploring a horticultural career, please head to our website.