Following the success at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024, little interviews goes “live at Chelsea” to catch up with some of the garden designers that Pro Landscaper has been following throughout their Chelsea journey.

The Stroke Association’s Garden for Recovery is a peaceful, sensory space to support stroke recovery. Highlighting that the stroke recovery process isn’t straightforward or perfect, but it is possible, the garden emphasises the non-linear nature of stroke recovery and the benefits of reconnecting with nature. 

The bronze medal winner is due to be reconfigured as a permanent garden for the Stroke Unit at Chapel Allerton Hospital in Leeds, providing a vital space for reconnection and rest for stroke survivors, their friends, families and carers.

Name: Miria Harris 

Company: Miria Harris Design Limited 

Role: Garden designer

Show Garden: Stroke Association’s Garden for Recovery 

• How was the build process? 

It was all really interesting! The hard block paving, for example, was a sort of prototype, and only arrived two days before press day – so we didn’t know what to expect. We didn’t know what they were going to be like, so there was a lot of head scratching related to it and it was like, okay, we’ve got to just go with it.  

They felt like something that did need to be quite weathered and not be polished or perfect, especially as when we tried to lay them really tightly with tight joints, it just looked wrong. But as people have moved around on them, there’s now these bits of the side that are chipped away, and they’re separated and its got the mark of “people”. They’ve been used and textured and added that well used feeling.  It’s really great and I love that.  

• What was the most challenging part? 

 It’s got to be paddling the clay pond, because I don’t think any of us really understood what that part of the project was going to be like. I worked with Mark Gregory from Landform and he’s done these large scale clay ponds before so had some idea of what to expect but when you get into the space, its actually much smaller than you would be used to and you’re more confided to the restrictions of a show garden so the pond is actually really small. So much so that it was easier to throw it together by hand – literally!  So we went through various techniques, day one, trying to work out whether we could make sausages like sort of like a sort of plasticine, but that didn’t work in the end, so, the only thing we could do was throw them at the walls and smash it around. So that was all really challenging, but so rewarding, because it’s a beautiful wildlife poem that just like is so kind of sings a bit of how it was made. 

• What are you most proud of? 

I think I’m most proud of the way that the trees talk to the planting which then talk to the hard landscaping which talk to the trees – its like a painting and there are these lovely moments where for example the bow of this branch is sweeping down and so we’ve placed it very carefully to then be mirrored in the stone, which follows the same sweeping motion.  

It’s all in the details. The weathering is all intentional, the terracotta reclaimed tile is the same colour as the bark of a tree, and the stone is shaped according to the palm of my hand. It’s all about just taking a moment, just holding on to some solid ground and taking a moment. 

• If you were to do this again – is there anything you would do differently?  

Probably not make it as a show garden, but instead, make it as a real garden. So, I am looking forward to its relocation where all of the plants and trees and the essence of the garden in terms of these like interconnecting powers raised with places to sit – they’re going to go to a hospital and will become a permanent garden for stroke patients in the unit there and that’s such a wonderful project.