AN INTERNATIONAL landscape architect, who has just opened a new office at Hergest in Kington, showed off a unique exhibit at Chelsea Flower Show this week.

Elizabeth Banks and fellow architect, Robert Myers, from Elizabeth Banks Associates were commissioned to design the educational show garden in the floral marquee, commemorating the life and work of Sir Hans Sloane.

The garden marks the 250th anniversary of the death of the physician whose love of plants proved a common thread right through his life.

Although best known for discovering that the Cocoa Palm could be used to make drinking chocolate while he was in Jamaica, Sloane also possessed an extensive herbarium containing more than 40,000 specimens.

Designed to reflect the various aspects of Sloane's involvement with plants, including his collection from the Caribbean, the garden highlights his interest in horticulture economically and medicinally. After the show, the garden will be re-constructed at Cardogan Place in Chelsea as a centrepiece for the communal gardens.