‘Back to Grandma’s House’
Designed by Alina Hibbert and Adam Critien
In this blog interview, we’re delving into the creative minds behind ‘Back to Grandma’s House’, designed and created by Alina Hibbert and Adam Critien. Alina and Adam poured a huge amount of time and care into creating a warm, nostalgic space that transports visitors back to the 1970s. Their thoughtful design not only captured hearts at RHS Malvern, but also earned them a Gold Medal, the award for Best Indoor Plant Garden, and the People’s Choice Award.
We’re huge supporters of both Alina and Adam, as they have supported our small business over the years. Alina kindly reached out earlier this year regarding this project, and we were more than happy to sponsor the design with our soils and components, helping to bring the planting and terrarium elements within the space to life.
In this interview, we’re asking Alina about the inspiration, design process, and storytelling behind the garden, and how the concept evolved from idea to award-winning reality.
What was the initial idea behind Back to Grandma’s House, and how did you and Adam develop the concept together?
So, I created an initial design for RHS Malvern 2025 and didn't get in however, I was asked to resubmit for 2026. I love 70's decor/furnishings and the design was basically my dream living room. At the 2025 show, I met up with Adam and told him I entered for the year but didn't get in but wanted to submit again. I showed him the design and told him a little bit behind it and he instantly loved it!
With Adam now on board, I altered the design to included Adam's best bits, more terrariums and a living wall. We know sometimes show garden's at an RHS show can seem rather unobtainable, so we really wanted to ensure that there was something for everyone to take away from our garden. A big reason why 95% of the furniture used was second hand, we wanted to say to people that 'this is achievable'.
Despite being quiet a few miles apart, we jumped on calls every month to make sure we was on track, Adam did a lot of behind the scenes admin and created a master spreadsheet to keep on top of our budget. We bounce off each other with idea's really well so the final result pulled off both of our elaborate and detailed ideas.
Can you tell us more about the sustainability elements within this design, and why it was so important to incorporate them?
Keeping the show garden as sustainable as possible was important for the both of us as we really value our impact on the planet and promoting better methods to create something. Again, the second hand furniture was to prove that a beautiful design can be built on pre-loved items and not all show gardens need brand new elements to make it work. The third wall was built entirely from reclaimed wood from Bristol Wood Recycling Project, collaborating with them on this project was beautiful in demonstration you can indeed build anything from pallet wood. The moss and soils are peat free and sustainably sourced, we even selected an eco-friendly paint company to collaborate on the garden. Sustainability was at the core of Back To Grandma's House.
The design highlights the mental health benefits of indoor plants - how important was this message to you?
Including my own, there is so many stories out there of how plants indoor and out has helped with someone's mental health. Indoor plants had a boom in this when COVID hit and some people were stuck indoors with no garden. I brought houseplants more into my life when I went through a really depressing and dark time during university back in 2017 and for the same reasons as others. I had no garden, just a room, so bringing the outdoors in, gave myself something to work on and nurture. It helped me out hugely into what I could never see my life without and I know there are others who would totally feel the same
Did you face many challenges or moments of problem-solving when translating the concept into a physical design?
Luckily, the concept was rather straight forward and it didn't bring much difficulty. However, there was one bit that for some reason was rather difficult to do and that was the floor! For some reason, it didn't want to work out right and took Adam a few attempts to get it to actually stay down and be a floor. Other than that, the design was clear and it just took the right amount of finessing to get it perfect.
How did you decide on the mix of classic plants like maidenhair fern alongside modern hybrids such as Anthurium ‘Queen of Hearts’?
As the design had a lot of 70's anecdotes, it was only fitting to have classic houseplants to pay tribute to where having plants in your home bloomed from. We wanted to mix in newer hybrids and exotic plants to bring that back into the modern world to showcase how far the houseplant hobby has developed. I personally love some classic houseplants especially the maiden hair fern but I also really love modern hybrids, so felt only right to have them together on display. The two also created so many lovely textures and tones breaking up each segment of the design, presenting viewers a full canvas to look at.
Why did you choose to include elements such as aquascapes, terrariums, and paludariums together in one space?
Me and Adam both share a love for them, especially with Adam's work background within zoo's etc. They bring an great way to display houseplants and possibly more sensitive ones that would require acute climates. Aquascaping is a hobby of mine that I have had longer than collecting houseplants. Working with water and creating underwater landscapes is a whole new but not too dissimilar territory, but it is incredibly rewarding when able to be pulled off. We wanted to show an achievable river scape that any beginner could create their selves back at home. We both really enjoyed creating our terrariums and paludariums, Adam tried out a whole new technique with the buttress root and it turned out great! It was really fun to have the excuse to really go to town on some beautiful tanks.
Was there a feature that exceeded your expectations once it came together?
I think it's hard to pin point a specific feature because the whole show garden really exceeded our expectations. We were over the moon with how it turned out and really couldn't have asked for anything else. The reality of when it was all finished and constructed is when it hit how hard we both worked to pull this off.
Which feature in the design do you think is most achievable for people to recreate at home?
There is a few, although I would like to think there isn't an element that people couldn't recreate however, the tillandsia frames are very simple to do at home, you don't even need the frames, just some good branches and a hot glue gun and you're sorted! This required the least amount of materials and may even have most at home already.
What has been the most rewarding part of creating this design?
Being recognised for our hard efforts with just that Gold medal meant the world to us. We just did not believe that we would hit that high for our very first time. I would also say the public's comments and support meant so much to us and more. We really hoped that it inspired many and created a rememberable moment people can look back on.
Do you have any plans to create more designs or concepts for future events?
YES! I would love to do more gardens and currently in the process of working out on the next one. We both loved the process even at times it was stressful, it was so much fun. Watch this space!!!!
Check out Alina and Adam's next moves on Instagram!
@littleplantlover
@earthchampion