Stroll from green pastures to valley of shadow of death in Chelsea’s first Christian garden

A CHRISTIAN garden is being created for the first time at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.

The theme of the garden – sponsored by the Bible Society and costing about £100,000 – at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) event is to evoke the popular biblical text Psalm 23. The Lord Is My Shepherd featured in the Coronation service of the Queen, who is society patron, Supreme Governor of the Church of England and a Chelsea regular who is expected to visit the garden.

There have been gardens inspired by Islam and Hinduism but an RHS spokesman said: “We believe it is the first time... that the show has featured a garden inspired by the Christian faith.”

Sarah Eberle, its RHS gold medalwinning designer, plans to bring the psalm to life with her interpretation of its “green pastures”. She will doubtless be hoping for rain and sun but there will be no public prayer area on the 32ft (10m) by 32ft plot as Chelsea rules ban walking on displays. Hazel Southam, Bible Society spokesman, said the garden was not intended as a call for people to go to church: “We visited Chelsea last year and saw that banks and gin companies had a presence and decided there was no reason the Bible Society should not be in there.

“We decided that Psalm 23 should be the theme because it is beautiful and speaks to everybody. We want our garden to be restorative and for people to see it and feel they can draw away from the busyness of life.”

Sarah Eberle, an infrequent churchgoer, said the garden reflected her upbringing on Dartmoor: “The garden is my place of meditation. It does not matter if you are religious or not.” The psalm’s “green pastures” will be depicted by a meadow while “the valley of the shadow of death” will be evoked by Dartmoor granite and deep shade.

Chelsea’s gala opening by the Queen is on May 18. After the show ends on May 23, the Psalm 23 garden will be relocated to Winchester Hospice.