Key Insights and Lessons Learned from Chelsea 2025

In recent years, my feelings towards the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025 have been mixed. While I enjoy attending to witness the creations of the most talented and innovative garden designers of our era, I've grown more critical of the show's exclusivity and ostentatiousness.

With the lowest ticket prices for the show beginning at £38, a Saturday ticket for non-members at £112, and two glasses of Pimms costing £32, the show is beyond the financial reach of most people.

Garden of Compassion by Thomas Hoblyn

While Chelsea has certainly enhanced its sustainability credentials by requiring show gardens to have a permanent location afterward, the most sustainable action a garden designer can take is to choose not to exhibit there at all.

RHS Young Ambassador Tayshan Hayden-Smith publicly stepped down from his position with the RHS shortly before the show began, citing a toxic relationship with the organization, which was resistant to many of his ideas on making community gardening more inclusive.

Numerous main avenue gardens featured resilient, climate-resistant plantings, with multi-stem trees like Betula nigra (River Birches) appearing in nearly every garden. Digitalis (foxgloves), Papaver (annual poppies), and Anthriscus sylvestris (cow parsley) were also commonly found throughout many of the gardens.

Nigel Dunnett's Hospitalfield Arts Garden impressed me with its powerful message of sustainability and future resilience, as well as its visually striking design.

The Hospitalfield Arts Garden by Nigel Dunnett

The Here for Humanity garden, sponsored by the British Red Cross and designed by John Warland and Tom Bannister, was another visual highlight. It offered a modern interpretation of an alpine garden, utilizing hexagonal shapes to emphasize the resilience, kindness, and hope fostered by the charity's efforts.

The Here for Humanity Garden by John Warland and Tom Bannister

I consider Balcony and Container gardens to be more accessible and varied. They demonstrate what can be accomplished in a limited area and display a wide array of solutions. My favorite was the C6 Balcony garden by Joshua Fenton, which showcases three methods to sequester carbon through the use of biochar, charred timber, and fast-growing plants and trees.

C6 Balcony Garden by Joshua Fenton

I also admired the uncomplicated design of the Fettercairn Wilderness Retreat Garden, which drew inspiration from the Scottish Cairngorms.

Fettercairn Wilderness Retreat designed by SSH Scapes

How can the RHS make Chelsea more accessible and appealing to the typical UK gardener or garden owner? One suggestion could be to provide UK councils with free tickets for the most sustainable, water-efficient, or insect-friendly gardens in the borough.

The RHS must improve in order to keep inspiring a nation of gardeners and garden owners to aid in addressing climate change and biodiversity loss.