Vote for the Plant of the Centenary
To celebrate the centenary of the Chelsea Flower Show, and 100 glorious years of amateur gardeners, the RHS has convened a panel of horticultural experts to select the top 10 plants launched at the Chelsea Flower since 1913; one for each of the past 10 years.
Ten amateur gardeners, each with a passion for a plant on the shortlist, have been chosen to explain why you should vote for their plant. These 'Plant Champions' were all born in the same decade that their plant was launched at Chelsea.
Watch them talking about their plant below and cast your vote.
Rosettes of silvery foliage topped with magnificent arching
spikes of frothy white flowers. Raised in 1913 by renowned rock
garden specialist Captain Symons-Jeune, it won the Award of
Merit in 1920.
Plant Champion: Sergeant Stan Pepper, 92, from London Ex-paratrooper Sergeant Stan Pepper joined the armed forces at the age of 17 and is now a Chelsea Pensioner. Stan has 24 great grandchildren, is a keen gardener and grows Saxifraga ‘Tumbling Waters’ because it can be planted on a rockery or wall and doesn't require too much bending over.
Watch Stan explaining why you should vote for Saxifraga ‘Tumbling Waters’
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Introduced by Victorian plant hunter George Forrest, this
elegant evergreen shrub made its debut at Chelsea in 1924.
It has brilliant red young growth and large, slightly fragrant
flower panicles.
Plant Champion: John Burwell, 82, from Southampton Retired GP John has been an enthusiastic gardener for more than 50 years. He really enjoys Pieris and has a small collection of them in his garden, two of which are now over eight feet high. John has fond memories of driving up to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show on his days off as a GP and parking on a bomb site in the King's Road.
Watch John explaining why you should vote forPieris formosa var. forrestii
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Decades of work by plant breeders trying to increase the colour range of lupins were rendered superfluous by George Russell, who in 1938 revealed the rainbow palette of lupin cultivars he had bred. Chelsea visitors were dazzled by the Baker’s Nursery
display of these plants in 1939.
Plant Champion: Iris Chapman, 78 from Wrotham Iris's first encounter with lupins was in the early years of the Second World War when her family moved to Cheltenham and she made friends with another girl on her road whose father grew them. She was amazed by the display of colour they created and has been growing them ever since.
Watch Iris explaining why you should vote forLupinus Russell hybrids
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An evergreen species with bell-shaped white flowers, this plant was discovered on the Japanese island of Yakushima. The
plants were first exhibited at Chelsea in 1947 to great acclaim.
This species has been hugely influential in the development of
rhododendrons for smaller gardens
Plant Champion: Rodney Tucker, 70 from Hemel Hempstead Environmental scientist Rodney spent a lot of time working in Western China and remembers being amazed at the variety of English garden plants that grow wild there. Asian rhododendrons are a particular favourite and he enjoys growing the dwarf varieties that are more manageable for gardens.
Watch Rodney explaining why you should vote for Rhododendron yakushimanum
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This pure white Floribunda, from German rose breeder Reimer
Kordes, stole the show at Chelsea in 1958. It’s probably still one
of the best-known of all roses.
Plant Champion: Dorothy Wood, 59 from Hornchurch Dorothy grew up in Glasgow and inherited her love of roses from her father. Rosa Iceberg (‘Korbin’) was a favourite of his and Dorothy still grows it in her garden today. It has become a family joke that Dorothy is always 'popping into the garden for 10 minutes' only to emerge three hours later.
Watch Dorothy explaining why you should vote for Rosa Iceberg (‘Korbin’)
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A small tree with showy white bracts in May and brilliant
autumn colour. Bred by Canadian nurseryman Henry M Eddie, it
won Chelsea’s Award of Merit in 1972.
Plant Champion: Gareth Manning, 47 from Reading Gareth's lifelong passion for trees and shrubs started in the mid-80s when a nurseryman, (who was actually called Eddie) introduced him to ‘Eddie’s White Wonder’. It completely changed his mind about Cornus and he remembers it as the first plant he ever had that was truly out of the ordinary.
Watch Gareth explaining why you should vote Cornus ‘Eddie’s White Wonder’
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This perennial grows up to 75cm high, has mauve flowers and
glaucous leaves and can flower for almost the whole year. An
Award of Garden Merit plant, it was named in honour of the
plantsman E A Bowles and was first shown at Chelsea in 1982.
Plant Champion: Michaela Worthington, 37 from Bradford Michaela loves Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ because of its beautiful colours but also because it is always buzzing with bees, butterflies and lacewings. She works as a Forest School Practitioner and Teaching Assistant and enjoys pottering about outside with the children and seeing how excited they get about gardening.
Watch Michaela explaining why you should vote for Erysimum ‘Bowles's Mauve’
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Shown first at Chelsea in 1983, this plant was raised and
selected from seed sent from America. It was the first heuchera
to become widely popular as a flowering foliage plant, starting
one of the major plant fashions of the last quarter century.
Plant Champion: Felicity Crabb, 26 from Christchurch Keen gardener Felicity runs a 'creative allotment' project in her local community. She thinks Heuchera villosa ‘Palace Purple’ is a plant for everyone because of its wonderful deep colours and hardy nature. She particularly likes the contrast its tiny white flowers make to its robust and dense leaves.
Watch Felicity explaining why you should vote Heuchera villosa ‘Palace Purple’
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Exhibited first in 2000, this geranium is tall and fast-growing,
with violet-blue flowers streaked with red. It is probably the best known hardy geranium cultivar.
Plant Champion: Henry Grub, 15 from East Grinstead Henry is a former finalist for RHS Young School Gardener of the Year. His wealth of knowledge and flair for presenting impressed the judges for his category so much they dubbed him a 'mini David Attenborough'. Henry has a soft spot for geraniums as they are his mother's favourite.
Watch Henry explaining why you should vote for Geranium Rozanne (‘Gerwat’)
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Raised by Lynne Dibley of Dibleys Nurseries and making its
debut at Chelsea in 2010, ‘Harlequin Blue’ has short flower stems and compact leaves. This plant won the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year award in 2010.
Plant Champion: Rosie Ghuman age 8 from London Rosie is one of the keenest young gardeners at Charlton Manor Primary School, part of the RHS Campaign for School Gardening. Rosie doesn't have a garden at home so really loves houseplants. She particularly likes the pretty blue and yellow flowers of the Streptocarpus ‘Harlequin Blue’ and thinks it's a great plant for forgetful people as it doesn?t need too much watering.
Watch Rosie explaining why you should vote for Streptocarpus ‘Harlequin Blue’
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