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Home » What we do » WWF's 50th Anniversary » Our 50th anniversary garden

Our 50th anniversary garden

To celebrate 50 years of WWF, we worked with award-winning designer Fiona Stephenson to create a garden inspired by our water-related conservation work.

During the first week of July we reflected the beauty of a chalk stream at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show and we're delighted to say our garden was awarded a Silver Gilt medal by Royal Horticultural Society judges.

To see what's involved in building a show garden, here's a film that captures the entire build of our garden during the three weeks prior to the show…



And here's a film showing how our designer prepared for the big week with a practice stream in her own back garden earlier in the year ...

Fiona's Garden from WWF-UK on Vimeo.


Have you ever wondered what’s involved in designing a show garden? To see Fiona finding inspiration beside the tranquil River Itchen in Hampshire, watch this short film.



The garden design

Fiona Stephenson’s design for the WWF garden at Hampton Court Show

Supported by the HSBC Climate Partnership, the garden told the story of our water conservation work. Taking inspiration from the River Itchen in Hampshire, the garden included plants typically found around chalk streams or in alkaline soils - such as meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) and water crowfoot (Ranunculus aquatilis).

It also featured a rammed earth wall representing the chalk aquifers that filter rainwater and are responsible for creating chalk streams, a bridge and viewing platform and, of course, the WWF Panda.

Oversized planting intermingled with a giant plug and sphere artwork symbolising the over-use of water from these rivers. It was hoped that the garden would inspire visitors to think about how we use water and how to help protect this special UK habitat, with its abundance of native wildlife.

The River Itchen