There may be fewer nurseries in the RHS Chelsea Great Pavilion than in years gone by, but the displays are just as good. Colourful, often fragrant and guaranteed to contain at least one plant you’ve never seen, their stands are one of my favourite parts of the show.
There are always plants being launched at RHS Chelsea and this year was no exception.
Raymond Evison Clematis officially unveiled three new varieties – I had a sneak preview at the Garden Press Event earlier this year. ‘Queen’s Nurse’ is a repeat flowering variety that has a deep pink bar early in the year with the second flush of blooms more solid in colour.
‘Eliza’ has large pale blue-white blooms with red anthers, while ‘Ithemba’ has white flowers with a pale pink bar.
Roses are another regular launch at RHS Chelsea and a few caught my eye.
There were two new pale and beautiful roses. Rosa ‘Kate Moss’ has lemon cream blooms with a sweet scent. R. ‘Sir David Beckham’ has sprays of white, cupped flowers.
On the Kernock Park Plants stand it was a new antirrhinum that I found most interesting.
It was shortlisted for the RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year award. A perennial variety, it has bronze-purple foliage over winter and then in summer produces purple flowers with a white throat over many weeks.
English Sweet Peas won a gold for their second outing to RHS Chelsea and unveiled three new varieties. ‘Back to Black’ is, Phil Johnson told me, seen as an improvement on ‘Almost Black’.
“Back to Black has larger flowers and a better shape to the flower,” he said. “I think it’s a better colour as well.”
‘Fruit Fool’ was named and launched by food writer Nigel Slater because it reminded him of fruit stirred through a fool. However, it was the beautiful colouring of ‘Black Magic’ that was drawing most attention from visitors.
The Little Cornish Glasshouse’s Chelsea debut was a beautiful display of anemones. Simply displayed in white jugs, it was simple and stunning.
Also impressive was the display by the holder of the National Collection of wisteria, one of a group of stands showing the work of the scheme run by Plant Heritage.
Chelsea Physic Garden Florilegium Society had an educational stand about botanical art. It was the group’s first outing to RHS Chelsea and it won a silver gilt medal.
Another educational display, this time by Sparsholt College, showed the historic relationship between plants and fabric. It featured probably the Great Pavilion’s first washing machine, along with a kitchen sink for dyeing material and a washing line full of finished clothes.
Among other interesting facts, I learned that nettles were used to produce a dye for camouflage nets and uniforms during the Second World War.
It’s not only the plants but the way they are displayed that always impresses.
Summerdale Garden Nursery’s auriculas were exquisite and I loved the way the display was colour co-ordinated.
Hare Spring Cottage Plants always put together a lovely display but this year it had several things beyond the plants for visitors to see.
The display was built around owner Stella Exley’s 1964 Morris Minor, known as Rose.
On one side there was a wildflower meadow, while on the other, foxgloves, camassias and other perennials were combined in a really pretty display. Set among the flowers was a knitted picnic that delighted visitors.
It was lovely to see a big tulip display at RHS Chelsea – there’s not really been much since Bloms Bulbs stopped attending. This time, it was Harts Nursery who had one stand of their usual lilies and one of tulips.
Owner Patrick Hart told me the nursery grew just over 400 pots of tulips to get 70 for the display – they took them all to Chelsea as a back up.
Getting them into perfect bloom involved moving them in and out of cold storage. They were brought out regularly but only when it was cloudy.
“You can’t bring them out into direct sunlight because it will lose the colour,” Patrick explained.
As ever, individual plants caught my attention.
The tiniest heuchera I’d ever seen, a rather pretty dicentra and striking leaves on a beesia.
There was also colour at both ends of the spectrum.
Dark and sultry on Peter Beales Roses’ stand and joyful colour on the display of British cut flowers by Flowers from the Farm.
And Leafy Lytham brought a bit of childhood nostaglia to their stand with a model train that ran through the plants.
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 runs until May 23. Details here.
You can read my look at the 2026 show gardens here.
Enjoyed this? You can read more of my show reports here.
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