Chelsea 2008

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Chelsea gold 2008

The MND Shetland Croft House Garden - RHS Flower Show Chelsea 2008

This garden was created to raise awareness of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. It was designed by Sue Hayward based on an idea by one of MNDA's founder members - Martin Anderson MBE. The garden was awarded a Gold Medal and won the 'BBC's RHS People's Award for Best Small Show Garden'.

The garden, set in the 1940s, depicts a typical Shetland croft house garden.
The garden is owned by a Shetland crofter who has hung up his fishing nets since being diagnosed with motor neurone disease, symbolised by the walking stick leaning by the doorway.

The walls, sheltering the plants in the croft garden from the harsh weather, form an analogy with the refuge and support given by the MND association to its sufferers.
The croft garden is scattered with the evidence of a fisherman’s life and ropes and nets are hung from the walls. The window sill is lined with vibrant potted pelargoniums.


Cultivars of heritage and rare Shetland vegetables, such as the ‘Foula Red’ potato, Shetland kale and rhubarb, are grown in rows on one side and on the other are colourful herbaceous plants that will tolerate the harsh conditions mixed with salad crops.


The planting consists of tough shrubs such as Rosa rugosa, Fuchsia magellanica and Lonicera periclymenum. These help to shield the other plants from the gale-force winds. There is an alpine table in the sheltered corner of the croft wall featuring rare Shetland plants such as Edmonston’s chickweed (Cerastium arcticum subsp. edmonstonii), which has not been found anywhere else in the world.