International property consultants, Savills, are sponsoring a show garden at the 2005 Chelsea Flower Show, to commemorate the company's 150th anniversary.

Created by the designer Clare Agnew, who is best known for her sets for the BBC and special exhibitions for auctioneers, Christie's and Bonhams, The Savills Garden will be her first commission at the Chelsea Flower Show.

The Savills Garden is to be a reflection of the Grand Tour being laid out on the classical lines of European gardens of the early 18th century. At that time there was a vibrant and beneficial exchange of aesthetic ideas, most notably with Italy, the destination of most Grand Tours. Young English gentlemen were encouraged to finish their education by travelling across Europe and this resulted in them importing the architecture of both buildings and gardens.

To capture this theme, Clare Agnew will be giving The Savills Garden a green English stage for the classical motifs of an arid Continental landscape. This to be reflected by lush planting surrounding the stone, statuary and water. The temple colonnade (supplied by After The Antique Ltd), suggestive of Roman architecture, will provide a setting for a narrow canal, reflecting classical busts at either end. The whole garden will span 20 metres by 10 metres having a backdrop of Tuscan cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) while the canal will be planted on each side with abundant leafy rhubarbs (Rheum palmatum 'Atrosanguineum') and bronze fennels (Foeniculum Vulgare 'Purpureum'). These are to be interspersed with large Box (Buxus) pyramids underplanted with ivy. Contrasting swords of Watsonia, Iris and Chrondrapetalum at either end will provide vertical emphasis, echoing the shapes of the twelve tall cypress trees and the columnar Temple.

The colonnade, incorporating a plaque commemorating 150 years of Savills will be flanked by Carpinus betulus (Hornbeam) hedging and further pleached Carpinus underplanted with Shuttlecock Ferns (Dryopteris wallichiana), that will frame the front of the garden. The whole feeling will be of a tranquil Italian courtyard garden with an interpretation of classical hard landscaping, that befits the Grand Tour theme.