When we first began work on our RHS Wentworth project, we were told there was a strong possibility that our planting would be sponsored by a reputable nursery. This would have been a huge help, allowing us, as students, to focus on the design and our ongoing studies without the added stress of finding funding for the plants ourselves.

Unfortunately, after submitting our final planting plan to the RHS, it was confirmed that we wouldn’t be receiving sponsorship. Suddenly, we were facing the full cost of sourcing all the plants ourselves.

When we started resending quote requests to nurseries, it was already late in the season. The quotes we received were eye-watering (around £5,500) and that is in addition to travel, accommodation, food, and fuel for the 2 weeks around the show. Trying to find that kind of money in just a few months, while studying full-time, felt overwhelming. We had opted to grow a few verities, which were on their way, but where do we from here?

But I found a way … not the traditional way, and definitely not the easy way, but a legal one nonetheless.

Through an old contact, I managed to secure all the plants at cost price. The catch? They were much smaller than we needed for the show. I would need to grow them on myself. Oh and they had to be collected within two weeks.

So, I started fundraising. I contacted every landscape architecture studio I knew. I reached out to family, friends, and even strangers. I gave talks at local groups, garden clubs, and shows, all while studying, working, and battling through some really poor health.

Some of the plants we’d carefully chosen just couldn’t be sourced at all. Who knew that single yellow hollyhocks and Stipa tenuissima ‘Wind Whispers’ would be so hard to get? We had to make compromises, swapping in yellow doubles and Stipa ‘Ponytails’ instead. It wasn’t ideal, but it was necessary.

Against the odds, the fundraising paid off. I raised a good portion of what we needed and received an incredible amount of support and goodwill from those around me. In fact, many of the groups I spoke to have invited me back to share how the show goes which is both exciting.

Now came the next challenge: where on earth do I keep 500 plants? And how do I care for them through heatwaves and heavy rain to make sure they’re show-ready?

Well, I no longer have a lawn. Instead, my garden has become a sea of plants, sometimes swaddled in plastic sheeting, sometimes exposed to the elements, depending on the weather. I spend hours watering, pruning, potting up, checking for slugs, and stressing about whether it’s too soon or too late to pinch out buds. It’s chaos.

Hopefully, this huge monetary saving pays off, and at the end of it, it will be more rewarding because they were (partly) home-grown, showing off not only the design skill, but also horticulture and project management.  I’ve done a large chunk of this and taken on a huge responsibility, so a lot is at stake for me. As always, I want to do well and don’t want to embarrass myself or let the others down in my team.

All I can do now is keep nurturing them and hope they’re at their peak when the time comes. Then, of course, there’s one final hurdle: figuring out how on earth I’m going to transport 500 plants to the show…