From Showground to Sanctuary: A Look Back at Our Award-Winning RHS Tatton Garden (Two Years On)

For a local landscaping and construction team, there is no bigger stage than the RHS Terrace Gardens category. It’s where the finest design minds and master builders converge to show what is possible when precision engineering meets high-end horticulture.

We are incredibly proud to share that our entry, The Corten Garden, designed and built entirely in-house by the Evergreen team, was awarded a prestigious RHS Silver-Gilt Medal. Even more thrillingly? Evergreen Cheshire brought home the coveted RHS People’s Choice Award after thousands of you voted for our design. Lifting that trophy was a monumental moment for our entire team and knowing that our work resonated so deeply with the public means the absolute world to us.

But a true garden is never static. To demonstrate that show gardens are not just “flash-in-the-pan” installations that disappear after a week, we wanted to prove that our award-winning design was built for the long haul.

Two years after that unforgettable week, we take a look at how The Corten Garden has matured, evolved, and found a permanent home in Cheshire.

The Vision: A “Minimal-Dig” Family Sanctuary

When designing the garden, our Landscape Architect, Brad wanted to solve a very real, modern problem faced by busy families across the North West: How do you introduce lush, architectural planting and biodiversity into a garden without the stress, mess and immense waste of ripping up your existing paving?

Our solution was a “minimal-dig,” high-impact design that maximised every square inch of the plot by building upwards rather than tearing downwards.

Key Design Elements:

  • Architectural Corten Steel: We used weathered, industrial Corten steel to fabricate striking raised planting beds and a dramatic central archway, extending the available planting space skyward.
  • Clever Garden “Rooms”: By strategically positioning the raised structures, we zoned the terrace into distinct, intimate spaces without using harsh, light-blocking solid walls.
  • The Healing Power of Water: Right at the heart of the garden sat a still water bowl, acting as a mirror for the changing Cheshire skies and introducing a sense of profound tranquillity.

The Star Planting Palette: How It Looks Two Years On

A great hardscaping structure is only as good as the living tapestry that softens it. At the show, the plants were perfect “specimens.” Today, they are a fully established ecosystem.

The undisputed anchor of the garden was a magnificent multi-stem Amelanchier lamarckii (Snowy Mespilus) tree. In the two years since the show, its roots have settled beautifully. It now provides stunning white blossoms in spring, rich green shade in July and fiery orange leaf displays in autumn.

Underneath, the prairie-style planting has knitted together perfectly:

  • Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass) has self-seeded softly, creating a frothy, ethereal movement around the base of the steel.
  • Sanguisorba officinalis ‘Red Thunder’ and Verbena bonariensis still guide the eye upwards, drawing in local bees by the dozen.
  • Trachelospermum jasminoides (Star Jasmine) has now fully scaled the timber and steel backdrops, filling the summer evening air with a rich, sweet scent.

The Ultimate Afterlife: Rebuilt in a Cheshire Home

One of our proudest moments at the show was committing to full environmental sustainability. Show gardens generate immense waste if not planned correctly.

True to our commitment to sustainable luxury, The Corten Garden didn’t go to landfill. Immediately after the show closed, our construction team carefully dismantled it piece by piece.

We transported the installation to a residential garden in Cheshire, where it was meticulously rebuilt as a permanent, living display. Two years of weathering have softened the Corten steel into a rich, deep burnt-orange patina that looks even better now than it did under the RHS judges’ spotlights.

Bring Award-Winning, Timeless Design to Your Home

Winning the People’s Choice Award proved to us that homeowners want gardens with soul, structure, and character. Gardens that stand the test of time.

The exact same design principles, material engineering and botanical expertise that won over the RHS judges are built into every single residential project we undertake. Whether you are in Knutsford, Wilmslow, Tarporley or Chester our in-house landscape architects and master builders are ready to elevate your outdoor space for this summer, next summer and decades to come.