My Garden

Many of the Chelsea exhibitors will have new plants on display this year, but what does "new" actually mean? There are three main types of "new" Chelsea plants. 1. Plants which have never have been seen on display anywhere in the country - or perhaps anywhere in the world - before... Read more..

As well as over eighty new plants at Chelsea, this year sees the arrival of a couple of old timers - one over a hundred years old. Cayeux Iris from France will have four impressive new introductions at the Show but also on display will be Iris ‘Ma Mie', originally introduced in 1906. Click on the... Read more..

Sweet peas are always a special feature at Chelsea, and both sweet pea exhibitors were awarded Gold Medals this year. But somehow, in the hurly-burly of the show, my news of their four new sweet pea introductions never made it on to the new plants pages on the RHS Chelsea website. So let me just run... Read more..

This is my master list of the 94 plants (after the recent update) seen for the first time at Chelsea this year. This list is based on taking nurseries' word for it! So if they say it's new, then it's on this list. As I've already discusssed , some are not so very new at all! I've... Read more..

From now for the next three weeks you'll find more posts than usual here on my RHS New Plants blog as I bring you updates on all the hot new plants revealed at this year's Chelsea Flower Show . Yes, the plan is to cover every single one. And last year there were almost a hundred . I've been... Read more..

Over the years, Christine Skelmersdale has raised a continuing succession of delightful Pacific Coast irises many of which made their debut at the Chelsea Flower Show. Indeed, along with her eclectic blend of bulbs and other plants they've been a continuing feature of her exhibit. This year another... Read more..

Hillier Nurseries (stand D16). The slender, upright, sword-like leaves are striped in grey-green, pink shades, brown and almost white with rich pink margins. It's not a quick grower, rarely reaches more than 1.2m/4ft in five years with a spread of about 1m/90cm, and has very short internodes (the... Read more..

This year Eagle Sweet Peas alone carry the flag for sweet pea growers at the Chelsea Flower Show (stand B17). In recent year's they're shared the spotlight with Matthewman's Sweet Peas but this year their superbly arranged quality sweet peas will be the only sweet pea exhibit in the Great... Read more..

Foxgloves are always a feature at the Chelsea Flower Show . Their elegant upright habit, their long spikes flowers of course their delightfully speckled flowers often make impressive features both on the show gardens and in the Floral Pavilion. Back in 2002 Hillier Nurseries launched an unusual new foxglove... Read more..

One of the much anticipated highlights of the Floral Pavilion at the Chelsea Flower Show is always the stand from Dibleys featuring mainly Streptocarpus - sometimes called the Cape Primrose. In twenty years at Chelsea Dibleys have won nineteen Gold Medals - that's impressive. And every year, along... Read more..