The Bridgerton Garden
2024 Chelsea Flower Show Sanctuary Garden, Sponsored by Netflix
The Bridgerton Garden was designed as an exploration of personal growth and the "wallflower" narrative of Penelope Featherington. The garden is centered around a moongate portal, which invites visitors into a space of quiet reflection and transition. To represent the complexities of a hidden identity, one side of the garden features a shaded, textured network of ferns, disporum, hostas, astrantia, clipped topiary and ground covers, which gradually gives way to a brighter, more sophisticated palette as the path progresses. This transition into a romantic, "full bloom" border of roses, digitalis, campanula’s, irises, lupins and grasses was intended to mirror the journey of finding one's confidence and stepping into the light.
At the heart of the garden, a sunken seating area—enclosed by a ring of field elms (Ulmus minor var. suberosa) and an ornate water feature—provided a sense of seclusion and respite. The design culminated at a sculptural monolith carved with the inscription ‘Even a Wallflower Can Bloom’, marking the step change in the planting styles that guides the viewer through the gardens narrative. While the garden served as a thematic portal for the 2024 show, it was ultimately designed as a serene, private sanctuary that balances historical character with the transformative power of a storytelling.
The garden has gone on to make its permanent home at Cambridge University Hospitals where it is open to patients, staff and the general public.
The full bloom border comprised of irises, digitalis, roses, lupins and geraniums.
Designer Holly Johnston shows Her Majesty Queen Camilla around the Bridgerton Garden.
Left to right: Ruth Gemmel, Dame Mary Berry, Hannah Dodd.
Wisteria climbing up and over the drystone Moongate.
Garden designer Holly Johnston.
Lupin 'Masterpiece' in the Bridgerton Garden.
Designer Holly Johnston and Dame Mary Berry sit in the Bridgerton Garden during Press Day.
The Bridgerton Garden, looking back towards the moongate.
Designer Holly Johnston with Bridgerton actress Adjoa Andoh.
The shaded border of the Bridgerton Garden.
Bridgerton Garden 'full bloom' planting.
Cantilevered limestone seating extend from the sunken drystone wall.
Campanula 'Taikon Blue' in the Bridgerton Garden.
A near 100-year-old Regency inspired three tier water feature was reclaimed to sit at the centre of the Bridgerton Garden.
Left to right: Hannah Dodd, Holly Johnston, Ruth Gemmel.
A sunken seating area sits at the heart of the Bridgerton Garden.
Designer Holly Johnston in the Bridgerton Garden.
Astrantia 'Buckland' in the Bridgerton Garden.
Bridgerton actress Adjoa Andoh stands by the Lady Whistledown sculpture in the Bridgerton Garden.
Rosa 'Desdamona' in the Bridgerton Garden.
Designer Holly Johnston and Dame Mary Berry in the Bridgerton Garden.
The Bridgerton Garden drystone moongate was designed to act like a portal into the historically inspired space.
Bridgerton actresses Ruth Gemmel and Hannah Dodd speak with designer Holly Johnston in the Bridgerton Garden.
The corky bark of Ulmus minor 'Suberosa'
Bridgerton actress Adjoa Andoh sits in the Bridgerton Garden.
Romantic planting representing Penelope Featherington stepping into the light.
A moss covered boulder sourced form the Lake District sat amongst a shade loving tapestry of plants, offering occasional seating in the private corner of the garden.
A secret compartment concealing Lady Whilstledown's quill and parchment (from the show) was hidden in the drystone walls, signifying the secrets Penelope held.
The Bridgerton Garden.
Shade loving perennials wove a textural tapestry along one side of the garden.
Anthriscus sylvestris in the front of the garden was used to create a whimsical, country feeling at the moongate entrance
Bridgerton actress Ruth Gemmel in the Bridgerton Garden.