Hi-Viz vests are reaching saturation point on Chelsea embankment as organisers cock the starting pistol on the Greatest Flower Show in the World aka Chelsea.
The RHS’s overall theme of ‘Your space, your story’ leaves the field wide open for
Here we flag the exhibitors we think will be intriguing, and the stands we’re tipping to win the ultimate glory – ‘best in show’.
Yes, Chelsea Flower Show this year is going to be a veritable gallimaufry (LOVE that word!) of ideas. One of the strongest themes is imagining what our gardens will be like in the future – I’ve coincidentally been reviewing a book on this very subject recently – my review will appear next week on our social media channels.
One of the big show-gardens for 2025 is the Avanade Intelligent
Wowee! Where will it end? Perhaps we’ll be able to do all our gardening from our laptops in 30 years’ time – it tells us what’s going wrong somewhere in the
The same theme is picked up by other show gardens this year, including the
This sort of technology is already happening worldwide in commercial horticultural enterprises, of course. Its application to our own muddly, error-filled patches (come on, I know it’s not only me) feels a lot less desirable at the moment – I think my smart sensors would blow up! It’ll be interesting.
The King’s Trust show
The message is one of Building Resilience, whether it’s in young people or plant material, and this
Ye Gods! How can Elaine have passed over the main event at this years Chelsea – Monty Don’s RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog
But as I watch our young Labrador lay waste to my carefully curated collection of pond plants I do wonder if Monty’s vision of creating a canine paradise might be representing the topic through slightly rose-tinted spectacles (see what I did there 🧐) . Either that or Ned is considerably better behaved than Isla.
This aside I don’t think I have ever looked forward to Chelsea more. The plethora of naturalistic gardens drawing inspiration from the local landscape is nirvana to someone most interested in the interface between ecology and horticulture. I can’t wait to see these habitat pastiches represent our wonderful native flora from as far afield as Dundee to the Norfolk coast via some British rain forests.
But it is perhaps the human element to our shared hobby that has touched the deepest chord in my anticipation of the show. I loved the Glasshouse Project stand in 2024, demonstrating how this social enterprise project was offering second chances to women prisoners by upskilling them in horticulture as they neared the end of their sentence, dramatically reducing the rate of re-offending. Their main avenue show
It’s the same with the pavilion exhibits. The human endeavour involved in Tree Nursery Frank P Matthew’s bringing an orchard of apple and crabapple trees in bloom fills me with joy, as will the new sweet pea named ‘Amy Dowden’, and the final word will definitely go to the dogged determination of Phil Harkness of Harkness Roses and the 12 years it has taken his nursery to produce the new rose named after our brave Princess of Wales ‘Catherine’s Rose’.
Coming from the Scottish Highlands, once I’m inside that trade tent I’ll have one destination – Glendoick Nursery who are coming to Chelsea for the very first time.
If Scotland had horticultural royalty the Cox family at Glendoick (‘twixt Dundee and Perth) hold the crown and sceptre. They’re really botanists disguised as retailers so try not to ask them too many daft questions (note to self). They specialise in azaleas and rhododendrons, and to own one of their cultivars is, like the posh watches, simply to look after it for the next generation.
Binny Plants and the shimmering ethereal beauty of Kevock Nursery’s stand will also have you considering a move to Scotland but out in the show gardens our main stock-in-trade – rocky, inhospitable seabeds – are the main act.
The Seawilding
Unbelievably there are two more show gardens from Scotland this year – Downs Syndrome Scotland and Nigel Dunnet’s design based on the
In a volte face from his trademark colour-filled pictorial meadow concept, much loved by Laura, Nigel’s design is all about plants that match your environment – apparently interspersed with armadillos – but by this stage you’ll be punch drunk with Chelsea’s post-apocalyptic scenarios and this will seem entirely normal.
We each have our own ‘Tips for the Top’ – no doubt we’ll be confounded by the judge’s opinions, but:
Elaine I reckon the King’s Trust
Laura I’m rooting for the Glasshouse Project with its powerful back story for Best in Show, and possibly Tom Hoblyn’s skilful combination of rock and painterly plant colour choices in the Hospice UK
Caroline: I’d like to recommend a little gem from the distillery at Fettercairn – one of my former home villages in the Scottish Mearns – with its open-air bath playing into the current craze for plunging into cold water in your birthday suit.
But I think the contesters may be the Addleshaw Goddard: Freedom to Flourish
My sisters should have spent more time reading the Racing Post, you’ve got to study previous form to pick a winner!
The idea of a standard wisteria is not new but less often seen than one might imagine. This sumptuous wisteria is widely acknowledged to be one of the best, and here Louise explains why…
It’s also time to do the Chelsea Chop in your own gardens, to get sturdier and more floriferous late summer perennials. We show you how we do it in this short video – just click on the picture below to watch.
Elaine’s
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