Monty Don has said he is “very happy” his one-time foray into designing a garden for Chelsea has gone on to help dogs at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.
The BBC Gardeners’ World presenter teamed up with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and horticulturalist Jamie Butterworth to create the RHS and Radio 2 dog garden for last year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
One of the most high profile RHS feature gardens of recent years, it did not have far to go to reach its new home after the world famous flower show, with trolleys ladened with plants wheeled just over the River Thames to Battersea.
The garden was replanted in its new site immediately following last year’s show and officially opened by the Queen in July 2025 – despite the best efforts of the local foxes who flattened many of the plants on the night before the royal opening.
Since then, the garden has provided a shady, green space, with grass, a pond and planting, for dogs to run around in, as well as be assessed behaviourally and interact with potential new owners, Nathalie Ingham, canine behaviourist and training manager at Battersea said.
Speaking to the Press Association as Flounder, a year-old cocker spaniel currently at Battersea, tore around the garden in excitement, Ms Ingham said: “It’s really important for us to have this space because, being in central London, the site is quite heavily concreted and astroturfed.
“This is an amazing space for them to relax and enjoy a bit of free time.”
The garden’s care is led by Dawn Richards, lead horticulturalist at Battersea, with volunteers helping out with tending the space – giving them a “massive sense of enjoyment”, according to Ms Richards.
The garden has undergone modifications, including removing some of the original plants as they were deemed to be potentially toxic to dogs, and adapting the pond to suit the space.
And the original dog-friendly lawn did not fit so had to replaced with conventional grass – although there are plans to sow hardy lawn plants such as daisies – and a new pathway aims to prevent the garden getting churned up in winter.
Ms Richards said: “It’s a garden that’s going to evolve every year that we use it, as we adapt it to meet the needs of our operation team and the dogs.
“Gardens are to be used, they’re not going to stay looking like a show garden, that was never the intention.
“It’s been really well-loved and well-used, as part of which we have to change things.
“That’s part of the fun, it is a living space that’s changing and growing, and that makes it extra special,” she said.
Don said that, from the moment the garden was conceived, Battersea was its destination, and he was very happy it had gone onto have a new life at the animal rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming charity.
“We were really just a stopping off point on the way on one side of the river, and then it continued across to the other side,” he told the Press Association.
“The whole experience was daunting, fun and life-enhancing, and if that sense of reward and pleasure could be shared by people and dogs, particularly dogs that need help and love, I’m very happy.
“I hoped it would give people pleasure, I hoped I could share the kind of gardens I love, and my love of dogs – dogs have been part of my life all my life.
“It was a celebration of gardens and dogs, and all that I’ve got out of gardening.
“The fact it was going to Battersea was the clincher – I got real satisfaction out of that,” he said.
But speaking from the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, where he is presenting coverage of this year’s show, Don said he had not changed his mind on his pledge last year that the dog garden was not only his first for Chelsea, but also his last.
“I have no plans to do another garden for anybody other than myself. Never say never, but not for the foreseeable future,” he said.
