Have you ever wondered what happens to the show gardens once the Chelsea Flower Show finishes?

Obviously, for residents of Chelsea and Kensington, they are used to seeing members of the public struggling through the streets and on the tube with large succulents and perennials and the occasional medium-sized shrub. But in these ecologically-friendly times, not everything gets sold off and some gardens live on in their entirety or as part of a bigger project.

Here’s some of the destinations for this year’s main show gardens:

• Ark Design Management are relocating their garden, Future Nature, to a deprived estate in Sheffield, to promote local food production and teach people about basic horticulture

• The Hesco Garden will be rebuilt in one of Leeds’ public parks

• Foreign & Colonial Investments’ Garden will be reconstructed in a 12-acre garden in Suffolk

• Echoes of a Japan in an English Garden will be split up, the plants going to Trentham Garden in Staffordshire while the landscaping materials will form part of a new garden in Yokohama City, Japan

• Laurie Chetwood and Patrick Collins are finalising plans to move the Perfume Garden to another location in the South East

Many of the small gardens will also live on:

• Learning to Grow will be relocated to Ranelagh School as part of a bigger project being designed by Hilliers

• The materials from Dawn Chorus are being given to The Tutu Peace Garden, a community project in Lewisham, which is due to be opened by Desmond Tutu this summer

• The Help for Heroes Sanctuary Garden (pictured above) will be adapted as a permanent feature at the Defence Military Rehabilitation Centre at Headley Court, Surrey

• The Cottage Garden was already an established garden at Capel Manor College, so will be returned there after the show

• Non-perishable plants and materials will be returned to the Horticultural Training Centre in Birmingham to enable staff to rebuild the Credit Munch garden and use it for training and demonstration purposes.

• Giles Landscapes will be taking their Fenland Alchemist’s Garden home to attract wildlife there

• Demelza will be reconstructed at the Demelza House Children’s Hospice in Kent

• Nature Ascending will be rebuilt as part of an eco-hotel project in either Wales or Yorkshire

• Sarah Eberle’s three credit crunch gardens will be reused in her show garden at this year’s Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

• There are plans for James May’s controversial Paradise in Plasticine to be donated to a museum or school. My own view would be to reuse the plasticine in local schools...

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