Former money manager Amanda Thomas is to create butterfly-friendly show garden at the new RHS Sandringham Flower Show. Here, the founder of Eye Gardens near Diss explains more
A former finance consultant turned garden designer will unveil a brand-new butterfly-friendly garden at the first RHS Sandringham Flower Show in Norfolk this July. Amanda Thomas, founder of Eye Gardens based near Diss, Norfolk, has developed the Butterfly Sanctuary Garden in collaboration with national charity Butterfly Conservation, in a bid to put the ‘forgotten’ pollinator in the spotlight. Thomas spent the early part of her career as an auditor and management consultant before leaving London with her family to settle in rural Norfolk.
She began gardening for local clients, trained at Writtle College, and has since built a design practice spanning 15 years, finding her passion in planting for pollinators and combatting climate change.
The Butterfly Sanctuary Garden features nectar-rich planting, native hedging, a wildlife pond, and a garden room set among trees. The aim is to show a garden of any size and style can be a sanctuary for the people using it as well as the wildlife visiting it and making it their home.
Amanda explains: “Despite being equally as important as bees, butterflies receive far less attention. You don’t need to create a huge wildflower meadow to help them, whatever space you have you can make it work – and it can still be the style of garden you want.
“Wildlife friendly doesn’t have to mean messy – you can have a stylish contemporary garden which is still beneficial for biodiversity with some pollinator friendly planting!”
The design will feature hundreds of plants loved by butterflies including Lavendula, Agastache, Salvia, Cistus and Rosemary, among others. And, as part of the central garden room, a stream runs from a down pipe into a wildlife pond which is designed to overflow into a rain garden, showing how to use run-off water to benefit wildlife and irrigate the garden.
The Sanctuary sits within the RHS’s new Grow Forward category, which showcases horticultural designs that tackle climate change and support biodiversity. An area that Amanda is no stranger to, having won a gold medal at the 2025 Sandringham Show for her debut show garden, which focused on climate change mitigation, something she says she has seen firsthand.
She says: “You can see how it is affecting things when you’re in it every day. You feel it more. From trees and plants to watering habits, things are changing. It’s our responsibility as garden designers to inform, and more importantly, inspire people about what can actually be done to help using their own gardens and outdoor spaces. Shows like RHS Sandringham are a fantastic opportunity to do that.”
RHS Sandringham Flower Show takes place from Wednesday 22 – Sunday 26 July during Butterfly Conservation’s annual Big Butterfly Count, (Friday 17 July – Sunday 9 August), where people are invited to spend 15 minutes outside in a sunny spot counting the butterflies they see and logging them on a free app.
This data helps Butterfly Conservation’s scientists to see how butterflies are faring, and to take action to help them.
Butterfly Conservation’s Head of Engagement, Kate Merry, says: “We’re so excited that Amanda has chosen butterflies to feature at the heart of her show garden. It’s been an honour to support her, and we can’t wait to see the Butterfly Sanctuary Garden come to life. We hope it inspires many visitors to RHS Sandringham to take part in the Big Butterfly Count and plant for pollinators when they head home.”
Amanda concluded by saying: “There are more than 20 million domestic gardens in the UK covering more than 500,000 hectares – that’s over 700k football pitches! If everyone did one small thing to help butterflies in their garden the impact would be enormous. I hope the Butterfly Sanctuary Garden will help people to see how they can help wildlife at home while still having exactly the garden they want.”
The Butterfly Sanctuary Garden in collaboration with Butterfly Conservation can be seen at the RHS Sandringham Flower Show between Wednesday 22 – Sunday 26 July 2026. Following the show, the garden will be relocated to Thetford’s King’s House public gardens in partnership with the town council, where it will become a permanent installation and an ongoing resource for the local community. This year’s Big Butterfly Count runs from Friday 17 July – Sunday 9 August. For more information visit butterfly-conservation.org or download the free Big Butterfly Count app.
Featured image of Amanda Thomas supplied by Butterfly Conservation
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