The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is over for another year. The crowds have dispersed, plants have been sold off, and Monty Don’s dog Ned is getting a well-earned break from the spotlight. So, what happens to the show gardens now?

To lower the event’s carbon footprint, the Royal Horticultural Society made it compulsory that all gardens go onto a permanent home after the show, which means there are plenty of public or community spaces that are set to benefit from the horticultural expertise of the garden designers and landscapers behind the award-winning exhibits.

Here are just five of the relocations taking place.

1 A women’s closed prison in Surrey

The Glasshouse Garden. Credit: RHS/Neil Hepworth

The Glasshouse Garden – which, to no-one’s surprise, picked up a Gold medal – was the only large show garden to be designed by a woman this year. It’s Jo Thompson’s 10th garden at Chelsea, and more than 75% of it was dedicated to planting. She designed it as a sanctuary on behalf of The Glasshouse, a social enterprise that helps to provide horticultural training and employment opportunities for women leaving prison.

Built by Berkshire-based contractor Ryan Alexander Associates and made possible by Project Giving Back, the garden will become a permanent fixture for training and rehabilitation at HMP Downview, a women’s closed prison in Surrey. “Winning Gold at Chelsea is an extraordinary honour, but the real prize will come after the show, when this garden becomes a garden for learning, healing and second chances at HMP Downview,” says Thompson.

2 Manchester’s first park in more than 100 years

The Avanade Intelligent Garden. Credit: RHS/Neil Hepworth

Artificial intelligence was brought to the Chelsea show ground through The Avanade Intelligent Garden, which is being rehomed next to Mayfield Depot and the Star & Garter pub at Mayfield Park in Manchester, the city’s first park in more than a century.

Estate manager Danny Williams says it will allow them to “harness cutting-edge technology to enhance biodiversity, improve resilience, and ensure Mayfield remains a thriving, beautiful space well into the future.” Take its ‘treetalk’ technology, which captures data from the trees, enabling park staff to ask questions about their health and determine what they need to survive.

The garden – which won the Best Construction Award as well as a Gold medal – was designed by Tom Massey and Je Ahn who worked together last year on the WaterAid Garden, which was also relocated to Manchester. Massey says relocating this year’s garden to a real-world urban setting will “gather valuable data over the longer term.”

3 A stone’s throw from the show ground

London Square Chelsea Pensioners Garden. Credit: RHS/Sarah Cuttle

After hosting the show for a week each year, the Royal Hospital Chelsea is now going to feature one of the gardens permanently on its site. The London Square Chelsea Pensioners Garden was designed by Dave Green to reflect the stories of the Chelsea Pensioners and the 330-year-old heritage of the Grade II* listed landmark where they reside.

Contractor PC Landscapers will be moving the Gold-medal-winning garden just a few metres to its new home, where it will be a private yet accessible space for the Pensioners, of which the garden’s sponsor London Square is a patron.

4 Arbroath’s new primary school on the coast

The Hospitalfield Arts Garden. Credit: RHS/Neil Hepworth

Nigel Dunnett returned to Chelsea this year after an eight-year hiatus with what Mark Gregory of contractor Landform Consultants says is a “Marmite garden”. The Hospitalfield Arts Garden took the sand dunes of the east coast of Scotland and turned them into an artistic outdoor space, with coastal planting popping out of the sand banks formed between ridges of Medite Tricoya.

“This garden encourages conversation about planting into sand. It’s a bit like Marmite – you love it or you hate it. But some of the horticulture in it gets people talking about the possibilities,” says Gregory. “For me, Chelsea is about starting conversation and experimentation.”

After picking up a Silver-Gilt medal, the garden will be relocated to Ladyloan Primary School next to the harbour in Arbroath.

“It’s important to have this contact with nature and plants and living things at school; we all have to try and do as much as we can for future generations to have those sorts of experiences,” commented Dunnett in the May issue of Pro Landscaper.

5 A hospice in the northeast of England

Hospice UK: Garden of Compassion. Credit: RHS/Neil Hepworth

The Garden of Compassion was garden designer Tom Hoblyn’s last one at Chelsea, and one he says was “hugely poignant.” It was for Hospice UK, which Nurture Group recently donated £25k towards becoming a corporate partner and to support the garden and its relocation after the show.

Its permanent home will be St Cuthbert’s Hospice in Durham, where patients and their families, as well as staff, will be able to enjoy a reflective and comfortable space outdoors.

“The final weeks of a loved one’s life are so important to family and friends for years to come, and having a tranquil, welcoming garden in which to enjoy those final moments is a wonderful legacy we are proud to be supporting,” says Hattie Ghaui, CEO of Project Giving Back, which funded this and nine other gardens at this year’s Chelsea.

Nurture Group’s executive chairman Peter Fane says he is “delighted” that the garden will “provide a sanctuary that will continue to serve patients and their loved ones long after the show is over.”