GreenSTEM exhibits at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026

Bringing Nature Home

Designed by Dave Green for RHS Science & Collections

The Bringing Nature Home exhibit invites gardeners to enjoy, engage with and enhance their garden habitats for biodiversity. Exploring the most up-to-date sustainable gardening research and advice, interactive displays will encourage visitors to record twelve RHS wildlife wonder plants on a digital map and explore the latest innovations on the award winning RHS Grow app. 

Inspired by a row of terraced houses the exhibit has a central wooden structure, with a homely hallway interior decorated with house plants, books and nature-inspired artwork. Reclaimed windows are suspended from the structure, through which the stunning planting areas are viewed. External planting areas are reminiscent of neighbouring gardens, separate but interconnected by nature.

Interpretation provides evidence-based practical advice on each planting area. By choosing plants suitable for your unique garden, that are both great for wildlife and resilient, will result in a beautiful, healthy garden habitat – helping to truly bring nature home! 

Robocrops: Plant Selection, Beyond the Visible

University of Lincoln​, sponsored by UKRI, Pinnacle Plants International and CambridgeHOK

Visitors will experience a live demonstration showcasing the exciting ways in which Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics are shaping the future of horticulture and helping the industry respond to major challenges such as climate change, rising energy costs and labour shortages. At the heart of the exhibit is University of Lincoln’s PhenAIx, an advanced robotic phenotyping system that employs digital camera, depth and multi-spectral sensors to capture and model plant traits that are invisible to the human eye, including plant health parameters, vegetation density, reflectance patterns and leaf topology.

By capturing this information quickly and accurately, systems like PhenAIx can dramatically shorten plant breeding cycles, turning years of work into months. Inspired by close cooperation with industry, the exhibit illustrates the benefits of human-AI collaboration to support more sustainable, efficient and environmentally responsible horticulture, while highlighting the vital need for STEM skills that will enable the sector’s future. 

UKCEH Nature Decoded

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology​

The UKCEH Nature Decoded exhibit reveals that UK gardens collectively form more green space than all our parks combined, highlighting their power as vital mini ecosystems. Visitors are invited to explore how gardens support biodiversity, wellbeing and climate resilience through UKCEH science and technology. Interactive tools and apps help people assess and futureproof their own spaces, while learning about how to take part in citizen science schemes and contribute to important datasets on biodiversity.

The exhibit shows how plant choices shape thriving ecosystems, with pollinator-friendly and climate resilient species demonstrating practical ways to boost biodiversity. It highlights how simple actions such as planting wildflowers, reducing pesticides, or recording local species, can make a meaningful difference. Visitors will also discover surprising insights, from the sounds made by soil organisms to how insect wingbeats act as unique identifiers. By understanding how climate change will influence future planting and why insects are essential, visitors leave empowered to support nature and contribute valuable data to UKCEH research.

Nature Inspired Protective Engineering; saving lives one leaf at a time

Blast EcoShield​, sponsored by Cranfield University

Blast EcoShield is a pioneering UK initiative that reimagines how nature can protect people. Created, developed and founded by Dr Rachael Hazael, the concept explores how vegetation and plant structures can mitigate blast waves – think terror attack using explosives – transforming ordinary hedges and living walls into scientifically designed shields that absorb and deflect pressure to protect people and structures.

The display introduces visitors to the emerging field of nature-inspired protective engineering, where sustainable plant systems are studied for their potential to reduce the impact of explosive (high energy) events. In this GreenSTEM exhibit we are combining interactive STEM research with engaging graphics and visual displays to support all learners and visitors. Blast EcoShield invites audiences to see how the natural world offers solutions to some of humanity’s most complex safety challenges.

In application, our Blast EcoShields have been proven to reduce the peak pressure of a blast wave substantially, changing the nature of sustained injuries.

Scents & Sensors: sniffing out plant pests and diseases