Hackney resident wins gold at Chelsea Flower Show with climate-resilient garden

Josh Parker (left) and Matt Butler (right) at the Garden of the Future. © Gates Archive / Emma Jacobs

A Hackney garden designer is celebrating a prestigious gold medal at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show – impressing judges with a focus on climate resilience.

Matthew Butler, along with fellow designer Joshua Parker, helped create the ‘Garden of the Future’ in partership with Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ charitable foundation.

The pair, who together run award-winning firm Butler & Parker, used their garden to showcase sustainable farming, hardy plants, and a left-field lavatory.

It features nutritious crops developed by the Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR) and Cranfield University’s ‘circular toilet’, which converts household wastewater into clean water for irrigation and carbon-rich materials for garden use.

Video: Josh Parker (left) and Matt Butler (right) accept gold medal. © Gates Archive/Paul Rutland

Butler and Parker said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have won a gold medal at Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show.

“The main theme of this garden is how powerful collaboration can be, and what better way to celebrate that than winning the top award from the judges.

“We hope show visitors will be inspired by the climate-resilient plants and innovations the garden is highlighting and take away some ideas for their own gardens at home.”

Celebrity chef and entrepreneur Levi Roots, of Dragon’s Den and Reggae Reggae Sauce fame, officially opened the garden with a cooking demonstration using edible crops from the no-dig vegetable patch.

He said: “I’m really excited to be involved in this inspirational initiative, shedding a light on sustainable farming and cooking which is close to my heart.”

Levi Roots, pictured with CGIAR’s Dr Clare Mukankusi. © Gates Archive / Emma Jacobs

The Garden of the Future was backed by the Gates Foundation, whose mission is to tackle the “greatest inequities in our world” and ensure “every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life”.

Ana Maria Loboguerrero, the Foundation’s director of adaptive and equitable food systems, said: “In sub-Saharan Africa, most of the 1.2 billion population work in agriculture, a sector that accounts for about 20 percent of the region’s gross domestic product.

“Harsher weather conditions are already taking their toll on the heath and livelihoods across the continent. But progress is possible.

“Despite these huge challenges, there are many solutions being developed by scientists, innovators and growers around the world.”

The public can cast their vote for the Garden of the Future in the RHS People’s Choice Awards here in the Smaller Show Garden and All About Plants Garden categories.

Voting closes at 8pm on Thursday 22 May, with winners to be announced on Friday.