The nursery displays at flower shows are always a highlight for me and RHS Chelsea 2025 was no exception with a mix of new exhibitors and familiar faces, along with masses of beautiful flowers.
Among the nurseries who got top awards were two that are local to me – GreenJJam Nurseries and the Kitchen Garden Plant Centre.
GreenJJam are best known as penstemon specialists but it was ‘The White Nursery’ side of the business that was on display at Chelsea this time. The stand, inspired by a summer wedding, was a pretty froth of white blooms and variegated foliage.
The nursery, run by Julia Mitchell, had won gold at Chelsea with penstemon before in the September show back in 2021 but this was a first gold for the white-themed plants, having got silver gilt last year.
Herbs and how to incorporate them into a garden setting was the message from the Kitchen Garden Plant Centre with a stepping stone path weaving through plants. It’s the third Chelsea gold in a row for the Newent nursery.
The award for the best exhibit in the Great Pavilion at RHS Chelsea 2025 went to Raymond Evison Clematis for a display that referenced its Guernsey base.
Among the features were baskets and crab pots made by Guernsey Willow Baskets and a ‘breakwater’ with blue and white clematis lapping around the wooden posts.
New to Chelsea this year were English Sweet Peas with a beautiful – and very fragrant – display. The nursery, run by Phil Johnson, was launching a new variety, ‘Amy Dowden’, which has shell pink flowers with a hint of cream.
Rather than the usual cut flowers in a vase approach to displaying the flowers, Phil had chosen to cut long stems complete with tendrils and buds. These were held in place in vases with a grid made of tape over the vase neck.
“Using the foliage not only lightens the whole effect rather than just having a big block it also means we can use things like ‘Unique’ and ‘Shell Pink’ that have shorter stems,” Phil told me.
“It adds to the delicacy of the whole arrangement and also extends the vase life as you can then get the second stem to flower as well.”
It’s a techique that can be used at home and ideal for those varieties whose stems aren’t quite long enough for traditional vases.
I reviewed A World of Sweet Peas co-authored by Phil earlier this year and you can read the review here.
A display that particularly interested me was by Farewell Flowers and tackled the waste that is so often associated with funeral flowers. It’s a subject that’s rarely discussed – I was told the BBC were not going to cover the exhibit because they thought it would upset viewers.
“There’s a taboo talking about it,” explained Gill Hodgson who set up the non-profit directory with fellow florist Carole Patilla.
The directory lists florists who will make funeral flowers without using non-biodegradable plastic floral foam. The Chelsea stand was sponsored by The Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management whose members have to deal with the plastic waste generated by traditional wreaths.
As well as starting what they consider to be an important conversation about funeral flowers – visitors were encouraged to write what they would like on tags attached to the display – the exhibit also showed what can be done to make tributes both personal and ecofriendly. Old work boots used as a floral container was just one idea.
With no idea what flowers they would have until vans started to arrive from member florists and flower farmers across the country, the team pulled off a gold medal winner with the central display of a flower-filled willow coffin a beautiful mix of coppers and pale pink – interestingly, echoing the colour palette of many of the show’s gardens.
Two more displays with a difference in the RHS Chelsea 2025 Great Pavilion also won gold. In The Garden showed off houseplants, winning gold after getting gold for their Chelsea debut last year in the Houseplant Studios section.
She Grows Veg had a rainbow display of vegetables that also got top marks from the Chelsea judges.
It was good to see Plant Heritage at the show with displays by many of its National Collection holders. The beautiful Cedric Morris iris exhibit by Sarah Cook showcased many of the varieties we admired on Sarah Price’s Chelsea show garden two years ago (read about it here).
The display got gold as did Jonathan Sheppard’s cosmos, a National Collection that, as he pointed out, dies each year.
He was launching a new variety, ‘Fondant Fancy’. The flowers were huge in comparison to many of the others on the stand.
Chelsea is often where new varieties are unveiled and salvia specialists Middleton Nurseries had the new Salvia ‘Tropicolor Sunrise’ – its bright orange flowers were difficult to photograph! It came joint second in the Chelsea Plant of the Year contest behind Philadelphus ‘Petite Perfume Pink’ exhibited by Sparshalt College.
The family run nursery is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and the stand filled with dainty flowers in all shades was a delight.
Roses are always one of the big draws and there were several new varieties on show.
Peter Beales Roses unveiled ‘Ashton Wold’, named after the home of conservationist Charles Rothschild. With semi-double, soft yellow blooms, it’s been bred to be good for pollinators.
Harkness Roses were launching Rosa ‘Catherine’s Rose’ in honour of The Princess of Wales with some money from each sale going to The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
David Austin Roses created a ‘secret garden’ to display their new rose, ‘The King’s Rose’ with sales supporting The King’s Foundation. Each of the pink and white flowers was slightly different making them appear hand-painted.
Not everything that caught my eye was newly launched. This unusual pink flowered chive was on Moore & Moore Plants’ display. A rather good alternative to the usual purple.
Kelnan Plants from Cornwall got a gold for their display of restios and this rather beautiful protea. It was a spectacular sight.
And how’s this for something different from the Kevock Garden Plants and Design stand. Despite the size of the flower, the whole plant was only a few inches high giving it a rather top heavy appearance!
You can read about my highlights from the gardens at RHS Chelsea 2025 here.
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Lovely photos, it’s so nice to get more detail than the tv coverage seems to provide. I think Rachel de Thame did mention the Farewell Flowers stand, so the BBC must have decided that viewers could cope with the mention of it after all. I thought it was a very interesting subject and not one I’d considered before.
Thank you 🙂 I came across Farewell Flowers earlier this year at the Garden Press Event. Definitely a conversation that needs to be had.
Another lovely post. Highlighting things I have missed. I’m a little bemused about the Beeb not mentioning the funeral flowers – after all they don’t shy away about focusing on hospice gardens or cancer charity gardens and with the green / eco element surely it is something everyone should consider?
I’ve not watch the TV coverage so I don’t know if they changed their minds but it did seem a bit of an odd decision.