‘Forest bathing’ garden wins Chelsea Best in Show for first-time competitor

A “forest bathing” garden has won the RHS Chelsea Best in Show for a first-time competitor.

The Japanese practice of forest bathing, or shinrin yoku, encourages people to focus on the sights and sounds of the woodland as well as their own breathing to help de-stress.

Ula Maria won the highest prize at the Chelsea Flower Show on Tuesday for her forest-bathing inspired garden for charity Muscular Dystrophy UK.

The garden includes 40 birch trees, inspired by the patterns of muscles under a microscope, to create a grove.

It is underplanted with woodland-edge style plants such as melica altissima Alba grass, with just a few pops of colour from mayflower and iris.

The winning garden reflects a broader trend at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show for those that focus on the restful impact of greenery rather than vibrant colours.

The garden is one of 15 at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show that is supported by Project Giving Back, which was set up by two anonymous RHS members to financially back charities to appear at the event.

Ms Maria, 31, told The Telegraph last week that gardeners were “leaning more towards trying to understand how gardens can benefit us, and look into the calming and therapeutic effects of gardens”.

She added: “What we find is that being in those soothing atmospheres such as a forest, just makes you feel calmer.

“Forest bathing helps reduce the heart rate and calms our nervous system. Trees release essential oils, which have phytoncides, which again, help with physical wellbeing.

“So I just think if we can achieve a really calm, green colour palette, and it just naturally makes us feel more calm and relaxed in the gardens.”

The designer has credited her love of gardening to her childhood in rural Lithuania.

“I used to spend every summer being immersed in the garden, so I feel this innate connection to nature,” she told the BBC. “I was fortunate enough to grow up in a landscape surrounded by meadows.”

In 2017 Ms Maria was named the RHS Young Designer of the Year in 2017 at the Tatton Park flower show for her “Studio unwired” garden.