Facebook looks for likes with Chelsea show garden

IT’S not the first brand you might associate with getting outside and doing a spot of digging or planting – but Facebook is sponsoring a garden at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.

The social media giant hopes its coastal-themed landscape garden by designer Joe Perkins will highlight how social media is a ‘powerful force for positive change in the real world’.

Facebook’s claims for the £75,000 exhibit were greeted with scepticism. Professor Stefan Buczacki, a former chairman of Gardener’s Question Time, suggested Facebook was trying to improve its ‘pretty tainted reputation’.

Matthew Appleby, of Horticulture Week magazine, said: ‘Too much screen time is the biggest barrier to getting kids outdoors, so it’s ironic Facebook is promoting itself with a garden.’

Steve Hatch of Facebook said: ‘More than 1.5million people in the UK are part of a gardening group on Facebook. We want this garden to be a space to host important conversations about the connection between our online and offline lives.’

Chelsea Flower Show runs from May 21 to 25.