At a glance: A forest garden supported by data-driven technology for a sustainable future designed by Tom Massey and Je Ahn.
With AI dominating existential discussions, garden designer Tom Massey and architect Je Ahn (collaborators for last year’s WaterAid garden) are exploring its horticultural potential, “Particularly,” Tom notes, “In the face of the climate and biodiversity crisis and in the harsh urban environments that we are designing gardens for.”
We see this garden as a really useful pilot, a way to prototype innovations whether those be materials, planting combinations or AI’s use in urban landscapes.
Their RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025 garden isn’t AI designed but uses AI’s data processing power to analyse and provide tailored plant care. Trees, especially those in urban environments, are the focus. “One third of urban trees don’t make it past their first year of planting,” explains Tom. “Plus, it takes up to 16 years for a newly planted tree to become carbon neutral.” Get tree-care right and their environmental value is confirmed.
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Working with Avanade, the garden’s trees will have sensors fitted monitoring soil moisture, sap flow, weather data and atmospheric pollution. Real-time data will be analysed to determine a tree’s current health and what action might be needed. “It will be like talking directly to the tree,” the pair explain.
Tom describes the garden as a food forest with a naturalistic, wild aesthetic with a dappled woodland transitioning to a colourful meadow and ephemeral pond. A pavilion uses mycelium to give an earthy, textured appeal in a neat philosophical link between mycelium networks and AI data pathways.
“We want the technology to be hidden and discreet, visitors will be able to appreciate the garden without knowing any technology is embedded at all.” Tom reflects and Je adds “We see this garden as a really useful pilot, a way to prototype innovations whether those be materials, planting combinations or AI’s use in urban landscapes.”
Key features of the Avanade Intelligent Garden
1: Pavilion: Innovative furniture designer Sebastian Cox worked with Studio Weave, Tom Massey and fungi experts Urban Farm-It to develop the pavilion’s mycelium wall panels. Waste wood pulp is inoculated with fungus which colonises the pulp to a stable form from which the panels can be cut.
2: Information hub: Inside the pavilion are three large screens displaying the real-time data from the tree sensors. There will also be a QR code to access the data from a smartphone.
3: Seventeen trees: Tom is excited by the mix of trees, each with their own personality and purpose. Look out for Ziziphus jujuba, a small multi-stem tree from the Far East with tiny yellow flowers and apple/pineapple tasting fruits.
Designers Tom Massey and Je Ahn Sponsors Avanade and Microsoft, Contractor The Outdoor Room, Plants Hortus Loci Structure Studio Weave with Sebastian Cox Relocation: Manchester's Mayfield Park,