Chelsea Flower Show Returns with a Focus on Climate, Nature, and a Love of Dogs
The annual Chelsea Flower Show, a premier horticultural event in the UK, is set to return with a focus on climate change, nature, and a celebration of dogs. The show, which takes place at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, London, will be previewed on Monday by the King and Queen, along with several celebrities.
This year’s event comes at a time when England is experiencing its driest start to spring in decades, with the dry conditions posing a challenge to the build-up of the show. According to ITV News, the show’s organisers have had to contend with plants going over too soon or not coming into flower in time for the show as a result of the dry and sunny weather.
One of the standout gardens at this year’s show is the RHS and Radio 2 dog garden, designed by TV gardener Monty Don. The garden, which will not be judged, features a lawn, water to wallow in, and trees to cast shade, as well as plants such as foxgloves and alliums. Mr Don defended the inclusion of these plants, saying they were blooms he had alongside his pets without problem in his own garden, and urged owners to exercise common sense about plants around their dogs.
"I wanted to see a garden at Chelsea that didn’t have a message, that didn’t set itself in an exotic situation, was absolutely set fair and square in 2025 in England and that was full of plants that either I did have or everybody could buy from their local garden centre, and with trees or shrubs that were native or long adapted to this country," Mr Don told ITV News.
The garden, which will be relocated to nearby Battersea Dogs and Cats Home after the show, will have any toxic plants removed. The King and Queen’s names of their dogs will be inscribed on the brick paths of the garden, which will be seen by the royal couple during their tour of the show on Monday.
The show will also feature a garden designed by Joe Perkins, which focuses on adapting to climate change and the ability of "pioneering" plants to thrive in extreme rainfall and drought. This garden, which is one of several looking to a future with more extremes of drought, heat, and flooding, represents the resilience of young people supported by the King’s Trust.
Another highlight of the show is the Wildlife Trusts’ rainforest garden, which showcases the threatened Atlantic temperate rainforest habitat that once covered much of western Britain. The garden, which has been designed to highlight efforts to restore and protect this habitat, features plants cascading down rocky surfaces and a leaning silver birch to highlight nature’s fragility and resilience in the face of extremes such as storms.
According to ITV News, designer Zoe Claymore said she wanted to create a garden that was "perfectly imperfect". She drew inspiration from the Dart Valley in Devon, a rich habitat of ferns, mosses, and lichens festooned on rocks and trees.
The dry conditions have made it harder for the gardeners to create the desired effect, with the moisture-loving ferns and mosses needing regular misting during the garden’s construction. However, the show’s organisers are confident that the event will go ahead as planned, with a range of gardens and displays that showcase the best of British gardening.
The Chelsea Flower Show, which is one of the most prestigious horticultural events in the world, will run from May 20 to 24. ITV News will provide exclusive coverage of the event throughout the week.
