By Laura Hyde |
Avanade has debuted its Intelligent Garden, designed by Tom Massey and architect Je Ahn, at the 2025 Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show in London, UK.
The garden blends nature with Microsoft’s generative AI technology to interpret digital data and transform it into everyday language, to enable the trees to ‘talk’ via a dedicated Intelligent Garden application. Sensors attached to 12 trees and buried in the soil record data, such as moisture level, acidity, growth rate, temperature and air quality, which is then translated into natural language using specially trained AI, running on the Azure cloud platform, so people can understand what the trees need.
For example, a Betula Nigra, or Black Birch, tree was asked “how are you feeling today?”. It replied: “today, I’m experiencing normal growth and all my conditions are stable. The temperature, humidity and soil moisture levels are within acceptable ranges. I’m well-rooted and continuing to establish myself in this urban garden.”
Through the app, each tree is able to give answers specific to its species.
“It’s amazing to see how we’re bringing nature and AI together so we can understand the language of nature better, and look after our trees and ecosystems more effectively,” said Darren Hardman, CEO of Microsoft UK. “This really is a fantastic use of technology.”
The Intelligent Garden project aims to increase the survival and growth of urban trees in challenging city environments, 50 per cent of which do not survive beyond 10 years, with up to 30 per cent dying within the first 12 months of being planted, according to The Forestry Commission, a non-ministerial government department responsible for the management of publicly owned forests and the regulation of public and private forestry in England.
Massey believes giving the trees a means to communicate with the people tasked with looking after them could significantly enhance their life expectancy.
“The Avanade Intelligent Garden, created in collaboration with myself, Je Ahn, Avanade and Microsoft, explores how we can use technology to help us through some of the many crises we face today, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, drought and pollution,” he said. “Urban trees worldwide are increasingly under threat, and our goal is to develop an AI tool that complements – rather than replaces – human knowledge and judgement. By providing clear, practical and actionable insights, this tool aims to support custodians of urban trees in making informed, sustainable decisions that protect and enhance the long-term health of the trees under their stewardship.”
Avanade brought together a ‘best-in-class’ team to build the first intelligent garden at Chelsea Flower Show 2025
Visitors to the Chelsea Flower Show can interact with the trees in the garden. After the show, the garden will be relocated to Mayfield Park in Manchester, UK, where it will be used as a model for how urban trees should be monitored and cared for.