At the heart of the show, around the monument in the Great Pavilion,
RHS x UBS A Day on the nursery: insights into life as a grower will showcase the hard work and skill of nursery growers, highlighting four nurseries who specialise in edibles and wildflowers. The nurseries include two first time exhibitors; Kent Wildflower Seeds, the first known wildflower nursery to exhibit in the Great Pavilion, and She Grows Veg, a new nursery bringing heirloom varieties of vegetables to the show. The other two nurseries are mushroom specialists, The Caley Brothers, who won gold for their first display of mushrooms last year and award-winning family grower of herbs and edible plants, Kitchen Garden Plant Centre.
The four nurseries have each received a grant from UBS to help towards the costs of exhibiting at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and providing produce in its various stages for display in the feature and their own stands.
The feature is designed by upcoming designer, Emma Tipping, who has been mentored by multi award-winning grower, Rosy Hardy, who returns to RHS Chelsea after creating her last gold medal winning display for her nursery Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants in 2019 after over three decades at the show.
Sarah Poll, RHS Head of Shows Development said: “We are thrilled to be working with UBS to provide financial support to four of the UK’s specialist plant nurseries and enabling us to create an educational feature which gives our visitors a rare behind the scenes insight into the growing process of the show stopping plants that make up the displays at our shows. The RHS and UBS is committed to championing UK British Nurseries and hopes the feature will encourage more people to support and buy from the UK’s independent nurseries, have a go at plant propagation at home or be inspired to start a career in the growing side of the horticultural industry.”
The display is made up of an arrangement of raised beds, which will hold much of the planting from the nurseries, and features key growing structures often found on a plant nursery including a potting shed, polytunnel and a shaded pergola. Plants will be exhibited at various stages throughout their lifecycle, from seeds and seedlings to mature plants, and some even making their way into a compost heap – showing the full lifecycle of plants. Sustainable growing methods adopted by the nurseries, including using peat-free compost, companion plantings and using biological controls instead of pesticides, are also highlighted.
Growers from the four nurseries along with Emma and Rosy will be hosting talks on the feature throughout the week giving visitors further insights, tips and advice into the growing process.
Bea Martin, Group Executive Board Lead for Sustainability and Impact, and UK CEO, at UBS said: “We’re delighted to partner with the Royal Horticultural Society on this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show as part of our aim to promote more sustainable approaches. We look forward to welcoming over 150,000 guests, including many UBS clients and staff, and connecting them with ways to explore sustainable principles alongside an exciting range of heritage and native plants and fungi to be enjoyed at home. We’re pleased to bring together and showcase some of the UK’s most innovative and sustainable nurseries and growers, with the aim of inspiring people to harness the power of nature.”
RHS Chelsea Flower Show,
sponsored by The Newt in Somerset, runs from 21 to 25 May 2024 at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, for more information and to buy tickets visit
rhs.org.uk/chelsea.
– Ends –
For more information, interviews and images please contact the Shows PR Team at
[email protected]
