Molly's Love of Gardens

Dining table set outdoors with a green and white striped luna tablecloth in a garden setting.

A Celebration of Gardens

With Chelsea just around the corner, May is the month when gardens come alive and the energy of new growth is palpable. Once reserved for grand estates and carefully controlled landscapes, UK gardens are now part of everyday life - found in courtyards, allotments and even the smallest of balconies.

What was once a symbol of status has become something far more accessible: a place for wellbeing, creativity and connection.

Topiary art of a bird in a garden setting with trees and sky in the background.

From Control to Collaboration

For much of British history, gardens were designed to impress. Formal layouts, clipped hedges and ordered symmetry reflected a desire to shape nature into something contained and controlled. But by the late 19th century, this began to shift.

The work of gardeners such as William Robinson challenged these rigid ideas and introduced a more naturalistic approach. His vision of the “wild garden” encouraged planting that followed nature’s rhythms rather than resisting them - looser, more spontaneous, and deeply alive.

It was the beginning of a different relationship with the land: less domination, more dialogue and its popularity grew beyond measure.

Wild Gardens to Rewilding

That philosophy has continued to evolve into something even more radical. At Knepp Estate, former farmland has been transformed into a thriving, self-willed ecosystem. Here, nature is largely left to its own devices, creating rich biodiversity and a powerful sense of ecological renewal.

It feels like the natural extension of William Robinson’s thinking - trusting nature not just in planting, but at scale, animals and all.

This sense of balance between human life and the natural world runs deeply through British landscape culture, and is something that also resonates in the world of Molly Mahon, whose home near Ashdown Forest reflects a daily closeness to shifting seasons, wildlife and the rhythms of the land.

Garden view of table setting through a wooden archway with a pool and greenery.

Gardens for Everyday Life

Alongside these shifts, gardening has become more encouraged than ever.

Today, many spend their weekendst in shared allotments, small urban plots and pots on balconies across the UK are encouraged and contributing to the mainstream hobby.

And even in these smaller spaces, something just as powerful is happening. Gardening has become a form of grounding - an antidote to speed and noise. A way to reconnect with nature, season and the simple act of tending something living.

Gardens are no longer just seen. They are felt.

A New Season at Chelsea Flower Show

Each year, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show captures this evolution in real time.

It is where tradition meets experimentation and where the future of gardening is imagined in front of a national audience. There is particular anticipation around The King's Garden.

King Charles III, whose long-standing commitment to organic and ecological principles will undoubtably continue to shape conversations around land, sustainability and design.

Chelsea reflects a wider cultural shift: gardens as living systems where everyone and anyone can be involved, not static displays.

Molly Mahon in a patterned dress standing in front of a stone wall and flowers