

ADHD Foundation Debuts Neurodiversity Garden at Chelsea
by Northern Life
The ADHD Foundation will unveil an ‘All About Plants’ soothing neurodiversity garden at the 2025 RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
The ADHD Foundation Neurodiversity Charity, the UK’s leading charity supporting individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other neurodiverse conditions affecting 1 in 5 of us, is delighted to announce they will bring a garden to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show from the 20-24th May 2025, before it travels to its final relocation at The University of Liverpool.
Sponsored by Project Giving Back, the grant-making charity that supports gardens for good causes at RHS Chelsea, ‘The ADHD Foundation Garden’ will draw a deep parallel between the rich diversity of plant life and the unique strengths of neurodiverse individuals. It aims to encourage visitors to ‘think differently about thinking differently’ and help them understand how those with a neurodiverse condition, who think differently, perceive the world through a different lens and don’t always behave as expected. Just as plants grow and adapt in unexpected ways, people with neurodivergent minds also thrive doing things differently.
The garden experience intends to make visitors with ADHD feel soothed and a calming sense of ‘escapism’ from an intense world.
The garden, designed by RHS Chelsea newcomer Katy Terry of Good Grounding Garden Design, was inspired by her own personal ADHD diagnosis in 2023. After spending time with the ADHD Foundation to understand and make sense of how she and other people who have ADHD ‘think differently’, she became passionate about designing a calm and gently stimulating outdoor environment which draws parallels with the neurodiverse mind.

Katy Terry – Designer of the ADHD Foundation Garden
The garden celebrates the beauty and diversity of plants within the All About Plants garden category at RHS Chelsea. The garden experience intends to make visitors with ADHD feel soothed and a calming sense of ‘escapism’ from an intense world. The diverse range of plant species, mirroring human diversity, aims to grow an understanding and celebrate all neurodiverse people in the UK who positively contribute to society by applying their unique talents and perspectives to everyday life.
Dr Tony Lloyd, CEO of The ADHD Foundation says,” The opportunity to showcase ‘The ADHD Foundation Garden’ at the RHS Chelsea, which has been generously sponsored by Project Giving Back, allows our charity to challenge preconceptions and stereotypes about neurodivergent individuals. We aim to empower a change in mindset by transforming negative language—such as ‘challenge’ and ‘limitation’ – into a positive focus on individual abilities, potential, and opportunities. Our garden reflects this philosophy, celebrating diversity just as all plants are uniquely different.'”
Designer Katy Terry says, ‘My personal neurodiverse journey has just begun. It’s been fascinating to discover the aspects of my character that have led me to consider the world through a different lens. Plants and garden design have been my passion for the last twenty years, and my ‘All About Plants’ garden design for the ADHD Foundation blends my horticulture and artistic strengths. I hope my debut garden at RHS Chelsea will bring a sense of calm and relief to people who are neurodiverse as they immerse themselves in nature and encourage visitors to ‘think differently about thinking differently’ by recognising the splendid complexity of different human beings, in the same way, that trees and plants are also all individuals.”
As visitors weave through the garden’s path, they will immerse themselves in a calm yet subliminally stimulating environment without any mental demands. They can see a richly layered environment filled with unique trees, shrubs and plants that represent individuality, mirroring the number of people living in the UK with a neurodivergent condition including ADHD. Examples feature the organically shaped Carpinus betulus Swing Tree – with its curved, gravity-defying stem – and the Hydrangea petiolaris that thrives vertically without support – highlighting the garden’s theme of embracing differences and human diversity.
The experience revolves around a sculpture symbolic of a large reflection pool, inviting visitors to focus on a few key species and reflect on the calming beauty of nature. Surrounded by visually stunning plants and five delicately transparent steel-mesh hanging umbrellas that symbolise neurodiverse inclusion, the waterless pool encourages visitors to sit at a nearby bench so they can reflect and celebrate human and botanical individuality.
NorthernLife March/April/May 25