'Imperfect beauty' garden for Chelsea Flower Show

A Brighton designer's garden display themed around "imperfect beauty" is being displayed at this year's Chelsea Flower Show.

The garden is inspired by the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, which is the belief in finding beauty in imperfection and the re-crafting of discarded materials.

Patrick Clarke spent 10 months designing the garden with young people from The Children's Society, which will be displayed at the flower show from 19-23 May.

Clarke said: "My hope is that this garden, and many others like it, will regenerate optimism and hope in our younger generation."

Clarke added: "With the help of the young creative partners from the charity, who provided me with some excellent ideas for the garden's design features, we have created a welcoming, nurturing outdoor space where they can find safety, peace and connection to support their emotional wellbeing."

The Children's Society Garden will be relocated after the show to the outdoor space of The Children's Society's Youth Club in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.

It will be an outdoor wellbeing hub for young people to have access to speak with a trained practitioner or take part in weekly group sessions with other young people.

The display features resilient multi-stem trees and plants, seating made from fallen trees, recycled materials and water features.

Young people said they enjoyed the stained glass features and helping with the design process.

Charlie said: "It would be good to see my work at the Chelsea Flower Show, it's such a prestigious show so it would be incredible. We learnt about stained glass, seed sowing and making sculptures."

Lucas added: "The workshops have been fun and have allowed me to socialise with people."

Beau said: "It's been very exciting to be included in the design process, we got to help with sculptures for it."

Other exhibitions from Sussex include one by designer Max Parker-Smith, from Warnham, who has created a garden inspired by his gap year in Australia.

Sussex nurseries are also displaying in the floral marquee or trade stalls - from mushroom growers to balcony gardeners.

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