Taking Stock - How does your garden grow?

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ support of the Prince’s Trust garden at the Chelsea Flower Show offered visitors the chance to buy their own piece of land. By backing the garden, PwC has clearly taken a leaf out of BBC children’s television show Blue Peter. And the firm has even incorporated a generous gift of a personally signed momento from HRH The Prince of Wales. Interestingly, the garden contains two very distinct elements. The fresh green grass could represent the promise of riches from PwC’s consultancy arm, while the weathered old wood of the decking could be seen as the firm’s trusty old audit and business advisory division. But the PwC gardeners better watch out. Should Chelsea experts Monty Don or Alan Titchmarsh become as ferocious as regulators from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the PwC garden could soon find itself dug over and replaced by two separate plots with a leyllandi dividing the gardens instead of a herbaceous border. The garden itself has a more serious purpose. It is intended to be symbolic of the Trust’s 1kby2k partnership to help 1000 young people into business by the end of 2000. The successful bidder can also recreate the garden in its entirety in his/her chosen location.