The Chelsea Flower Show begins in London today and two of London’s scientific residents have joined forces for the first time to produce a garden: the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and The Times’ scientific magazine Eureka.

Designed by Marcus Burnett, the garden design is inspired by the plant cell and features plants chosen for their significance to science and society, including Digitalis purpurea (Common Foxglove, used in the drug digitalis, to control the heartbeat in patients with heart disease) and Geranium macrorrhizum (rock-crane’s bill, a diuretic used in the treatment of kidney complaints).

The Times Newspaper and Kew Gardens’ show garden. Picture by kewonflickr .

Other gardens of scientific interest include those from the British Heart Foundation and Fever Tree. The British Heart Foundation’s garden is designed to look like a network of veins and arteries and featuring Salix caprea, a willow which contains salicin, a chemical which metabolizes in the human body to form salycilic acid and the discovery of which was instrumental in the development of aspirin.

Meanwhile Fever-Tree, a brand of tonic water, has created a garden featuring plants used in the treatment of fevers, including a treehouse made from reclaimed logs of Cinchona calisaya (Ledgeriana trees, known as fever trees), the bark of which is a good source of the quinine used to treat malaria.

Chelsea Flower Show runs 24-28th May at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea.