Emotional story behind gardener’s BBC Gardeners’ World Live design

Jan O’Brien, known online as The Flower Mummy, will unveil her deeply personal garden, Threads of Life, at the NEC in Birmingham next June, using flowers, textiles and symbolic storytelling to honour a close friend living with Motor Neurone Disease.

The project, which follows the success of her award-winning 2025 BBC Gardeners’ World Live garden, aims to raise awareness and funds for the Manchester and District branch of the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA).

Jan in her award-winning 2025 BBC Gardeners’ World Live garden (Image: Jan)

But for Jan, the garden is about far more than medals or design.

“When somebody you love is losing pieces of themselves to this disease, you realise how important it is to create something meaningful while you still can,” she said.

“It’s become bigger than just a garden.”

The design reflects Jan’s life across five decades, with each section representing different “chapters” through planting, pathways, mirrors and sewing-inspired installations.

Threads of Life garden design (Image: Jan)

Inspired by a lifelong love of textiles inherited from her mum and nana, the garden features giant sewing needles, woven elements and repeated planting themes to symbolise memory, healing and connection.

Jan said: “The garden celebrates my 50th year through five decades of lived experience, where planting, path and sculpture form chapters that are still being written.

“It speaks about fragility, mending and resilience.

“The whole idea is that all our lives are stitched together through the people we love.”

(Image: Jan)

The Horwich gardener explained that spending time outdoors became a source of comfort following her own cancer diagnosis and during periods of grief.

“I found comfort being in the garden,” she said.

“I feel closer to my mum there. Nature brings me a lot of solace and support.

“When life becomes overwhelming, the garden is where I go to breathe again.”

At the heart of Threads of Life is Jan’s close friend, David, who was diagnosed with MND last year and has rapidly lost mobility.

Jan said: “It’s absolutely tragic and I wanted to do this to raise awareness for MND and show support for him and his family.

“This garden is for all those living with, caring for, or affected by MND.

“I wanted them to know they’re seen, they matter and their story matters too.”

Jan admitted there were moments she considered stepping away from the demanding project, but said the emotional importance of the garden kept her going.

“There were times this year when I thought I couldn’t do it,” she said.

“But it’s giving them hope and something to look forward to.

“That’s what gardens can do, they can comfort people when words sometimes can’t.”

Jan first caught the attention of BBC Gardeners’ World Live judges in 2025, winning Silver Merit and Best Interpretation of the Theme for a garden supporting the Willow Foundation, a charity helping seriously ill young adults.

(Image: Jan)

Despite insisting she was “not a garden designer”, judges encouraged her to return the following year.

She laughed: “I told them, ‘No, this is my one and only.’

“But apparently they knew better than I did.”

Alongside the garden itself, Jan is also creating a lasting “legacy” project inspired by books that shaped her own life.

Books linked to themes such as theatre, gardening, grief, hope and creativity will be donated to schools, libraries, hospices, care homes and community groups after the show, each carrying a special Threads of Life and MNDA bookplate.

She said: “Stories helped shape me through some of the hardest moments in my life.

“If this garden can help even one person feel comforted or understood, then it will have done what it was meant to do.”

Fundraising is now underway to help cover the practical costs of bringing the garden to life, including transport, materials and accessible accommodation for volunteers and guests connected to the project.

A minimum of 40 per cent of all pre-show donations will go directly to the Motor Neurone Disease Association, while all post-show plant sales and donations made during the event will also support the charity.

People can follow the project and support fundraising efforts via Jan’s Instagram page, @theflowermummysgarden or donate to the crowd funder https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/threads-of-life-bbc-gardeners-world-2026

Jan added: “Every contribution becomes a small stitch in the Threads of Life garden.

“None of us can create something so meaningful entirely alone.”