It’s a five out of five from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026!

You may have noticed that each year, around the third week of May, the Plant Fairs Roadshow has a short gap in its event schedule – and there’s one very good reason for this … the RHS Chelsea Flower Show!  Often described as the biggest and best in the world, this annual horticultural spectacular offers nurseries the opportunity to bring their plants onto the global stage and show them off with the very best the industry has to offer.

We were so excited to be represented at the Show once again this year – and are overjoyed to share that every one of the five PFR nurseries who exhibited will be coming home with a highly prestigious Chelsea Gold Medal.  “I’m thrilled for the whole team!” says Paul Seaborne, Plant Fairs Roadshow Coordinator and owner of Pelham Plants.  “I’m actually more excited by the PFR five medal clean sweep than by our own success!”

Daisy Roots, Miles’s Japanese Maples, Moore & Moore Plants, Ottershaw Cacti and Pelham Plants each created a display in the central Great Pavilion – together offering the breadth and variety of plants you would expect from an appearance by the PFR nurseries.

But as well as the wonderful diversity of specialisms, the nurseries also brought along three things in common …

A passion for sharing their knowledge and expertise …

“I wanted to highlight the rewards of growing acers from seed,” says Miles from Miles Japanese Maples. He chose to create a special ‘Lindley Display’ this year, which aims to provide information and knowledge that will help inform and enthuse visitors about a particular topic. His stand showcased unusual Acer species raised from seed as well as some grafted Japanese maple cultivars which have been selected over time by growers as interesting seedlings. “Visitors loved to see how simple it is to grow Acers from seed and were hopefully inspired to try it at home themselves,” says Miles, who was delighted not only to win his first Chelsea Gold, but also to be interviewed by Carol Klein about all things Acer for the BBC coverage of the Show.

Annie Godfrey, from Daisy Roots, also created a display dedicated to sharing her years of accumulated experience to help other gardeners achieve success. “These are hardy, drought-tolerant perennials that enjoy a UK summer, whether it’s a washout or a heatwave,” she says. Her plants were all grown from seed – “it’s high-risk,” she says, “but the plants are tougher for it.” She has loved the conversations this has inspired with visitors – many of whom will have faced the same challenges of an exploding mouse population and an unusually warm spring that Annie has managed to overcome. The joy of exhibiting at Chelsea for Annie also comes from the opportunity to spend creative time with her plants, “painting a pretty picture” and producing stunning colour and texture combinations that visitors can take inspiration from.

For Ottershaw Cacti, this has been a unique year for giving visitors a rich insight into their world of rare and specimen succulents, Aeoniums and cacti. Following an important collaboration with the Desert Botanical Garden in Arizona to research and raise awareness of the effects of climate change on desert cacti, Ottershaw have included breathtaking 3D timelapse footage of blooming cacti. The incredible images of Ottershaw’s cacti, captured in London by ScanLAB Projects, provide an enchanting digital core to their display, which also includes a meticulously curated collection of 130 specimens of potted succulents, Aeoniums and cacti.

An intimate connection with their plants …

The road to Chelsea is certainly a long one. Planning starts the year before. Concepts for the displays gradually form through the long slow winter months – and then the frantic preparation and final selection of plants begins.

But in some ways, the process mirrors what goes on behind the scenes of the plant fairs which happen throughout the summer. Many of the plants have taken years to establish and mature – and all have been lovingly nurtured by the nurserymen themselves, before they are finally handpicked to take along because they are at last ready to present to the wider world. “I don’t have a big buzzer to press,” says Miles, “it will just be me, closely inspecting the emerging foliage and seeing how the colours and forms of the trees work alongside one another.”

The Pelham Plants display aims to demonstrate this careful and intimate journey. It represents the work of a small specialist nursery – with a beautifully and thoughtfully arranged stock garden, supporting the intricate and specialist work of propagation. Thriving new cuttings sit nestled in a wooden cold frame, while parent plants tower gracefully behind. The resilient clay-loving specimens Paul has brought to Chelsea are the ones he has observed and developed in his own garden; he has watched them perform reliably, year in and year out, through long wet winters and cold dry springs and he knows they won’t disappoint when customers get them home. “The hot spring weather helped bring forward the flowers of Euphorbia ‘Excalibur’ this year, and even some of the early summer Salvia nemorosa hybrids were ready!” says Paul.

The plants on the display created by Lynne Moore of Moore & Moore Plants also hold a deep personal significance. Her stand is built around a stunning Jack Eagan sculpture and she has enjoyed combining its unique form with her choice, unusual and rare plants for shade. One of her favourites this year is the Paris incompleta, which she has been carefully nurturing for the past three years in the hope that it would one day be large enough to accompany her to Chelsea – and the other is Convallaria majalis ‘Prolificans’. Lynne is overjoyed that this wonderful double form of Lily of the Valley is in full bloom following the mild spring. “It belonged to my nan, who first inspired my love of plants,” she says, “and its presence here means everything.”

Jovial camaraderie and stoic support

“Exhibiting at Chelsea does involve massive pressure,” Lynne goes on to say, “but coming with the other PFR nurseries makes all the difference. Despite the nurseries being spread widely throughout the Great Pavilion this year, it’s a tight support network and we all know we’re there for each other.”

And this network extends across all the nurseries in the collective. Many will have exhibited at Chelsea themselves in previous years, with an impressive array of medals between them, and they are always happy to share advice, encouragement and hands-on support with their fellow nurserymen. Colin Moat, of Pineview Plants, could be spotted quietly helping throughout the build … Clare of Clare’s Chillies assisted Miles on his stand during the show … Dan Cooper Garden’s tools found a special place on the Pelham Plants display … and the list goes on.

No doubt this wonderful team spirit helped enormously in the nurseries’ unprecedented success at Chelsea this year – just as it makes the plant fairs such a special experience for visitors across the South-East each summer.