Medals, show gardens, key plants, trends and Great Pavilion exhibitors
It’s the centre of the horticultural universe and Chelsea Flower Show 2023 is no exception. In my show round-up, you see whether the gardens live up to their designers’ vision. Plus, there are the coveted medal awards, for gardens and in the Great Pavilion. Finally, there are the BBC/People’s Choice Awards. Read more about Chelsea Fringe events, the Sustainable Garden Product of the Year Award and the Plant of the Year Award.
Chelsea Flower Show 2023 ran from Tuesday, May 23 to Saturday, May 27, at The Royal Hospital, Chelsea. Restorative gardens took centre stage focusing on health, wellbeing and inclusive green spaces for socially deprived communities.
The All About Plants category championed specialist plants, with Balcony and Container Gardens designed for urban living. Show gardens were judged on their eco-friendliness. More gardens than ever are going to permanent homes after Chelsea Flower Show 2023. Read about the new RHS Urban Show for 2024.
Chelsea Flower Show 2023 – Show gardens
Horatio’s Garden – GOLD and BEST SHOW GARDEN
Designed by Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg, built by Ryan Alexander Associates and sponsored by Horatio’s Garden Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: Embracing the mission of Horatio’s Garden charity to create beautiful, accessible gardens in NHS spinal injuries centres with influences from Sheffield.
- Design features: Tactile stone cairns give rhythm and structure, and water adds sensory experiences. A carved stone commemorates Horatio Chapple, the inspiration for all of Horatio’s Gardens.
- Key plants: Influenced by wooded valleys that provided timber for the forges and furnaces of Sheffield. Shrubs include Rosa mutablis, Hydrangea petiolaris and Aruncus Horatio.
- Permanent home: Princess Royal Spinal Injuries Centre, Sheffield.
A Letter from a Million Years Past – GOLD
Designed by Jihae Hwang, built by Botanic & Terra, and sponsored by Hoban Cultural Foundation and MUUM Ltd.
- Inspiration: The garden represents the medicinal herbs and primeval forest of eastern Jirisan, ‘the mother mountain of Korea’.
- Design features: 200 tonnes of rocks recreate the mountain, with small streams. A herb drying tower, built with traditional Korean soil and rock walls, dries herbs for natural medicines.
- Key plants: Native Korean species, including pink-flowered Filipendula formosa, edibles and medicinal herbs.
Centrepoint Garden – GOLD and BEST CONSTRUCTION
Designed by Cleve West, built by Crocus Ltd and sponsored by Centrepoint Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: A ruinous house, where nature has taken over, a metaphor for what it means to be young and homeless.
- Design features: The part-demolished house and a boundary wall with traditional topiary. The Pointillist style of the yew paintings uses roughly 120,000 dots to highlight the number of homeless young people in the UK. Sculptor Johnny Woodford’s five bird boxes play muffled recordings of everyday sounds.
- Key plants: Mixed planting, including ‘weeds’ and a fallen tree, form an evolving habitat, emphasising the important role a garden plays in making a house a home.
Myeloma UK — A Life Worth Living Garden – GOLD and People’s Choice Show Garden
Designed by Chris Beardshaw, built by Egidos Ltd and sponsored by Myeloma UK Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: Marking the 25th anniversary of Myeloma UK, which helps patients and raise awareness of this incurable, but treatable, blood cancer. The garden evokes a sense of calm reflection, hope and resilience.
- Design features: Beyond a formal border lies a jewel garden that captures the eternal optimism of spring.
- Key plants: A rich understorey of Aquilegas, geraniums and Symphytum with foliage of many forms and textures. The canopy includes Acers, Ginkgo biloba and Cornus kousa.
The Nurture Landscapes Garden – GOLD
Designed by Sarah Price, built by Crocus Ltd and sponsored by Nurture Landscapes.
- Inspiration: The paintings of Cedric Morris and the plants collected and bred by him at Benton End, Hadleigh.
- Design features: Locally sourced, sustainable materials, influenced by the 16th-century surroundings at Benton End. Reclaimed timber and cordage with climbers frame views into and through the garden.
- Key plants: Saplings, grasses, and trees with a planting palette in watercolour-like colours (plums, mauves, olive yellow, creamy browns).
Memoria & GreenAcres Transcendence Garden – SILVER-GILT
Designed by Gavin McWilliam and Andrew Wilson, built by The Outdoor Room and sponsored by Darwin Alternative Investment Management Ltd.
- Inspiration: Delivering an uplifting, spiritual and inspiring space, reflecting the emotional and cultural shared experience at the end of life
- Design features: Cantilevered canopy, changing garden levels, moving water, central paving with alternative routes and textured gravel.
- Key plants: Tall trees, shrubs and perennials create associations of colour, sometimes subtle and sometimes intense. Textural interest softens into grasses and low ground cover that dissolve into the stony ground.
Samaritans’ Listening Garden – SILVER-GILT
Designed by Darren Hawkes, built by Landform Consultants and sponsored by Samaritans Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: Stories of people who found the courage to reach out to Samaritans in their darkest times. Also celebrating the charity’s 70th anniversary.
- Design features: Suspended concrete panels, a fissured pathway, and gushing water. Stepping through the garden, things become calmer and more open. A sunken level with a bench allows two people to sit, talk and listen. A sculpture of a female figure by Andrew Litten called Listening, sits in a quiet corner.
- Key plants: Spiny varieties and dark colour, a collection of Ulmus minor.
- Permanent home: A remodelled version will be relocated to a Samaritans branch.
RBC Brewin Dolphin Garden – SILVER-GILT
- Designed by Paul Hervey-Brookes, built by G K Wilson Landscapes and sponsored by RBC Brewin Dolphin.
- Inspiration: A young couple take on the experience and expertise of their grandparents to make a garden which expresses longevity, biodiversity and habitat for the future.
- Design features: A hand-built oak pavilion with a bespoke metalwork roof and three porcelain sculptures by Parisian ceramicist Gregory Tchalikian convey the idea of knowledge expanding the mind.
- Key plants: Clipped hawthorn and hornbeam. The plants purify the air with successional planting to provide habitat potential.
The Royal Entomological Society Garden – SILVER GILT
Designed by Tom Massey, built by Landscape Associates and sponsored by Royal Entomological Society Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: An outdoor laboratory, built into a hillside, offering an ‘insect’s eye view’ and a space in which to study. The lab’s roof structure is inspired by a compound insect eye. The lab will monitor insects visiting the garden.
- Design features: Rammed earth floors, hoggin pathways, dead wood, piles of rubble, bare sand and gabion walls – numerous and varied habitats for insects. Water in still pools and flowing streams provide additional habitats. A dead tree ‘sculpture’, ‘floats’ over biodiverse planting and a standing dead tree and tree stump provides further sculptural habitat.
- Key plants: Planting for pollinators forms a resilient scheme that will provide year-round food, habitats and interest.
- Permanent home: IQL Stratford, East London as a long-term opportunity for learning and insect research.
The Savills Garden – SILVER-GILT
Designed by Mark Gregory, built by Landform Consultants Ltd and sponsored by Savills.
- Inspiration: The walled garden of a country hotel. Ornamental and edible planting provides a sanctuary and the best flavours and nutrition.
- Design features: Environmentally sensitive hard landscaping materials – reclaimed brick, pantiles, Yorkshire flagstone and cement-free concrete.
- Key plants: A mature tree, formal planting, a working kitchen with adjoining dining area, where guests can enjoy meals prepared with ingredients from the potager and walled garden – a first for Chelsea.
- Permanent home: Teaching cookery skills to young people at a residential centre in Nottinghamshire.
The Fauna & Flora Garden – SILVER
Designed by Jilayne Rickards, built by Living Landscapes and sponsored by Fauna & Flora and Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: The garden maps the journey of an ecotourist on a gorilla trek; conservation and sustainability.
- Design features: Medicinal garden, tourist kiosk selling local crafts, gorilla nest, waterfall and viewing rock.
- Key plants: Eucalyptus, bananas, bamboo, high altitude and gorilla fodder plants.
- Permanent home: The Biomes of The Eden Project, Cornwall.
Centre for Mental Health’s The Balance Garden – SILVER
Designed by Wild City Studio: Designers Jon Davies & Steve Williams, built by Stewart Landscape Construction Ltd and sponsored by Centre for Mental Health Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: Urban ecology.
- Design features: Crushed site waste, sand and concrete are recycled as plant habitats, with a clear pool and suspended steel walkways. A ‘mushroom den’ made from a reclaimed steel-clad shipping container provides the focal point.
- Key plants: Stress-tolerant plants – wildflowers, grasses, hardy shrubs, wetland plants and a shady canopy.
Chelsea Flower Show 2023 – Feature Gardens
The RHS Garden of Royal Reflection and Celebration
Designed by Dave Green.
- Inspiration: Celebrating King Charles III’s first visit to the show as the reigning monarch.
- Design features: Enclosed on three sides by hedging to create a secluded space, instilling a sense of calm and reflection. The central circular lawn features a curved bench made from British-grown larch and includes a bronze sculpture of the King.
- Key plants: Light pink and white planting reflects the tastes of the late Queen, with purple and blue colours for the new King. The garden features several trees.
The RHS and Eastern Eye Garden of Unity
Designed by Manoj Malde, built by Gadd Brothers and sponsored by Royal Horticultural Society Eastern Eye.
- Inspiration: The RHS, Eastern Eye newspaper and garden designer Manoj Malde (the RHS’ Ambassador for diversity and inclusivity) to create a garden to promote horticulture for everyone, everywhere.
- Design features: Sustainability – peat-free planting, reclaimed materials (limestone slabs and recycled limestone). Manoj celebrates the Indian artisan skills of hand embroidery and embellishment on scatter cushions and a Kuba cloth that touches upon his African roots. Bright posts have sentences in braille, demonstrating that gardens and gardening are for everyone.
- Key plants: Orange and pink are inspired by Manoj’s Indian heritage and clashing sari colours. There are marigolds and colourful spices.
Chelsea Flower Show 2023 – All About Plants
The Talitha Arts Garden – GOLD and BEST ALL ABOUT PLANTS GARDEN
Designed by Joe & Laura Carey, built by Landcraft and sponsored by Talitha Arts Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: A celebration of the creative arts and their therapeutic power to restore the lives of those who have suffered trauma.
- Design features: The garden unites sculpture, performance and planting. Some 250 handmade white porcelain butterflies, by ceramicist Naoko Tagai, pour from a large sculpted chrysalis, by stone carver Teucer Wilson.
- Key plants: A minimalist palette of two main colours conveys the moment between darkness (trauma) and light (transformation).
- Permanent home: The techniques and materials will benefit the relocated garden at St. Margaret’s House community centre in Bethnal Green, London.
The Teapot Trust: Elsewhere Garden – GOLD
Designed by Semple Begg, built by Stewart Landscape Construction Ltd and sponsored by Teapot Trust Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: A child’s imagination as it blossoms in response to art therapy, finding coping strategies to deal with life.
- Design features: Inspired by Wonka’s factory, Oz and Wonderland, with vivid colour is vivid, shape and form. Coloured panels feature children’s art while kinetic sculptures and sound unlock the imagination.
- Key plants: The ‘Dolly Mixture’ stream with candelabra primulas.
- Permanent home: The Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow.
The Choose Love Garden – SILVER-GILT
Designed by Jane Porter, built by Stone Inspired and sponsored by Choose Love Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: Refugee migration routes across Europe and the concept of desire lines – paths we create where no formal routes exist.
- Design features: Uncertainty and flux are conveyed with a kinetic sculpture, a dry stream bed path and a weathered tree. Boulder seating provides rest and stillness, yet the rock’s permanence also evokes migrants’ experiences of years in transit camps.
- Key plants: Linear drifts of plants, representative of those growing along established migration routes and planting as an act of hope.
The Natural Affinity Garden for Aspens – SILVER-GILT
Designed by Camellia Taylor, built by The Outdoor Room and sponsored by Aspens Charities Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: The charity Aspens supports people on the autism spectrum and with learning disabilities. The garden focuses on the connection between nature, health and well-being
- Design features: Curves reflect the neurons/plant roots spreading from the nucleus seating area. Each planting zone targets specific senses and sensory stimulation.
- Key plants: A calming colour palette encourages wildlife and provides a tranquil natural haven.
- Permanent home: After the show it will be relocated to Aspens in Kent to be used by the charity’s residents and visitors who are on the autism spectrum, with learning disabilities or who have complex needs.
The School Food Matters Garden – SILVER-GILT and People’s Choice Sanctuary / All About Plants Garden
Designed by Harry Holding, built by Landscape Associates and sponsored by School Food Matters Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: An immersive, forageable and naturalistic landscape where children can explore nature and be inspired by edible, climate-adapted plants.
- Design features: Paths are child-sized, allowing children to scramble over boulders alongside tactile earth walls, and reflective water, leading to a tranquil space where views on food and climate change through direct quotes are painted on the central wall.
- Key plants: Flowers to attract pollinators and light-capturing grasses. Calming textural planting is intersected by bold, colourful ribbons of flowers.
- Permanent home: An educational resource for school children.
The Sadler’s Wells East Garden – SILVER
Designed by Alexa Ryan-Mills and built by Big Fish Landscapes and sponsored by Sadler’s Wells Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: Celebrating the next generation of dancers and appreciators of dance in East London.
- Design features: The manufacturing heritage of East London inspires the garden’s materials with reclaimed or sustainably sourced brick, timber and metal. A bent steel sculpture wends around the garden, framing different views. Its profile hints at the saw-tooth rooflines of local warehouses and factories.
- Key plants: Distinctive trees and shrubs, while colourful perennials and annuals echo layers, patterns and shapes of dance.
- Permanent home: Plants and materials will go to School 21, an associate school of Sadler’s Wells.
Chelsea Flower Show 2023 – Balcony Gardens
The St George ‘Alight Here’ Balcony Garden – GOLD
Designed by Emma Tipping, built by Topoforma and sponsored by St George PLC.
- Inspiration: Designed for a young professional in London, providing somewhere to sit after work or with a morning coffee. Creating a relaxing but playful atmosphere, reminiscent of a good local pub.
- Design features: Waste reduction, using repurposed rubbish bins as containers and benches made from reclaimed railway sleepers.
- Key plants: Plants that are multi-functional – fragrant, edible or good for cutting. The colour scheme includes tones of green and orange, contrasting with rich dark pinks and pale blue.
- Permanent home: The wall tiles, made from recycled Welsh slate, are installed using a silicone adhesive so they can be reused after the show.
The Folio Society’s Reading Room Garden – SILVER-GILT
Designed by Katherine Holland, built by Phil Sutton Landscapes Ltd and sponsored by The Folio Society.
- Inspiration: Designed for relaxing in the company of a good book. The garden embraces the transportive effect that books can have. Encouraging a sense of calm away from technology and improving mental well-being.
- Design features: A bubbling water feature masks city sounds. Around the corner, the space opens out to oak seating for socialising. The wall is decorated with backlit oak cobbles (oak galls were used in ink production up until the 20th century). It also features a cut-out, reminiscent of bookends.
- Key plants: The space immediately outside the balcony doors is surrounded by plants, creating a green oasis.
The Restorative Balcony Garden sponsored by Viking – SILVER-GILT
Designed by Christina Cobb, built by Garden Club London and sponsored by Viking.
- Inspiration: Creating an environmentally conscious space without compromising on aesthetic or quality.
- Design features: Salvaged terracotta planters flank the entrance. When night falls, soft lighting transforms the space. A water table doubles as a birdbath and a source of meditative sound. Reclaimed teak is used for practical shelving, a simple pergola, and lounge chairs.
- Key plants: Attracting pollinators and birdlife with fragrant trees, climbers and herbs.
The Doorstep Library Garden: Words Take You Places – SILVER
Designed by Gini Denison-Pender, Philippa Craddock, and Anna Garner, built by Big Fish Landscapes and Greenscape Gardens.
- Inspiration: The magic of reading and the importance of rainforests. Celebrating the Doorstep Library’s volunteers, who bring the joy of reading into the homes of children who need support.
- Design features: A window seat in an outdoor room has gentle lighting at dusk. This illuminates books, maps and translucent glass shelves. Timbers from a single cedar of Lebanon enclose the space.
- Key plants: Delicate, textural plants reminiscent of temperate and tropical rainforests.
Chelsea Flower Show 2023 – Container Gardens
One category at Chelsea Flower Show 2023 that’s the most adaptable to ordinary people’s gardens.
Feels Like Home – GOLD – BEST BALCONY & CONTAINER GARDEN and People’s Choice Balcony / Container Garden
Designed by Rosemary Coldstream and built by Landesigns Ltd.
- Inspiration: The designer’s childhood in New Zealand.
- Design features: Handmade clay pots, charred timber cladding, sliced boulder paving, a bench seat made from reclaimed kauri (an ancient New Zealand native timber sustainably sourced) and a bespoke stainless steel water feature of a fern leaf. The focal point is a contrasting water feature.
The Hampden Stargardt Garden – SILVER-GILT
Designed by Joanne Edmonds & Camilla Windsor-Clive, built by Sebastian Brand and sponsored by Hampden.
- Inspiration: A sensory healing space for a visually impaired person, immersed in nature. The theme is one of drama – contrasting light and dark, as well as emotional calm.
- Design features: The focal point is the vertical blackened ash water feature, inspired by the loss of sight in the central vision of someone with Stargardt disease. The Hampshire countryside and the stripped yew heartwood colours are also an inspiration. Silk yew trunk seats and ash planters, preserved using the wood-burning Japanese technique of yakisugi, coordinate with the water feature.
- Key plants: Soft, light and airy planting, interspersed with apricot, lilac white/cream and burgundy tones.
The Platform Garden – SILVER-GILT
Designed by Amelia Bouquet and Emilie Bausager, built by Andrew Jackson Gardens and sponsored by Energy Garden.
- Inspiration: Unused overground platforms in London, focusing on community-led gardening and education. The importance of planting in transportation areas to improve biodiversity, rainwater collection, carbon capture and well-being.
- Design features: Graphic retro tiles, recycled concrete litter bins as planters and recycled paving.
- Key plants: Edible plants in small spaces.
The Shifting Garden by the Chelsea Gardener – SILVER-GILT
Designed by The Chelsea Gardener.
- Inspiration: Maximising the limited space typical of urban gardens, while reflecting how the climate is shifting with extreme weather patterns.
- Design features: An emphasis on sustainability, using natural, bio-composite and recycled materials. Along the borders, recycled plastic rod screens introduce the representation of water without using water. Against the dark backdrop are staggered containers with inbuilt seating, constructed from hypertufa. A mirror reflects the planting, breaking up the contours of the garden.
- Key plants: At the entrance is a sentinel Albizia julibrissin, with its filigree canopy. The rest of the planting is resistant to climate change and weather extremes.
The Mary Anning Space to Learn Garden – BRONZE
- Designed by Julie Haylock and Andrew Haylock, built by Original Landscapes and sponsored by Allgreen The Gardens Group.
- Inspiration: Pioneering palaeontologist Mary Anning (born 1799). She overcame a lack of formal education to emerge as one of the foremost authorities on fossils.
- Design features: Imagined in the grounds of a Dorset primary school as an outdoor educational area. The limestone crazy paving path, with ammonites between each stone, is engraved with the tongue twister ‘She Sells Seashells’ – reportedly written about Mary. Seats carved from a single tree trunk for the teacher and children create an interactive learning space.
- Key plants: Shade-loving plants in tree stump containers creating a Jurassic atmosphere.
Sanctuary Gardens
One of my favourite categories at the Chelsea Flower Show 2023!
The National Brain Appeal’s Rare Space – GOLD and BEST SANCTUARY GARDEN; BEST CONSTRUCTION AWARD
Designed by Charlie Hawkes, built by Landscape Associates Ltd and sponsored by The National Brain Appeal Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: People living with rare forms of dementia, particularly visual and spacial forms. The space offers autonomy, hope and encourages activity among those affected.
- Design features: Contrasting materials help identify structural components. A simple layout provides a balance between exploration and calm navigation. A level path and three seating areas with visually contrasting shelters of bright colours help people discover the garden independently.
London Square Community Garden – GOLD
Designed by James Smith, built by The Landscaping Consultants and sponsored by London Square.
- Inspiration: A garden created by volunteers on the Doddington Estate, Battersea. The half-acre community garden used donated trees, shrubs, perennials and edibles tucked between the tower blocks.
- Design features: A meeting space under a pergola with an outdoor kitchen, a communal table inset with chess and draughts boards and upcycled chairs by The Repair Shop’s Jay Blade. Raised beds contain edibles for cooking. A large swing seat in dappled shade is an idyllic spot to read a book from the garden bookcase.
- Key plants: Scented plants include Trachelospermum jasminoides, rosemary, thyme, salvias, Erigeron karvinskianus, and Mahonia eurybracteata subsp. ganpinensis Soft Caress.
- Permanent home: Elements of the garden will be relocated to the Doddington & Rollo Community Roof Garden in Battersea.
The Biophilic Garden Otsu – Hanare – GOLD
Designed by Kazuyuki Ishihara, built and sponsored by Ishihara Kazuyuki Design Laboratory.
- Inspiration: Biophilia is the human tendency to interact with other life forms. In this garden, a direct connection with nature can be felt while spending time inside the building.
- Design features: In Japan, a ‘hanare’ is a small house separated from the main building, considered a place of healing and calming. Light and shade stream through the lattice, which symbolizes traditional Japanese culture, and the sound of the waterfall surrounds the hanare.
Hamptons Mediterranean Garden – SILVER-GILT
Designed by Filippo Dester, built by Garden Club London and sponsored by Hamptons.
- Inspiration: A contemporary outdoor living space redolent of sunny Mediterranean landscapes.
- Design features: The warm textures of the architecture merge into nature. An outdoor kitchen is the garden’s focus with a shady alfresco dining space.
- Key plants: Mediterranean plants include scented shrubs, aromatic herbs and drought-tolerant ornamental perennials. The scheme reflects conscious water usage with planting encouraging biodiversity.
The Boodles British Craft Garden – SILVER-GILT
Designed by Thomas Hoblyn, built by The Landscaping Consultants and sponsored by Boodles.
- Inspiration: Inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites’ stylised depiction of woodlands and celebrating British craft makers.
- Design features: An arbour created by Cox London and the floating pool by water sculptor Bamber Wallis, which mimics raindrops dancing across the surface. Interior designer Rachel Chudley curated the collection of woodland-inspired furnishings by artisan craftspeople. Jake Catling has created rustic, yet refined paths and a terrace using fossilised Chatsworth stone.
- Key plants: Alnus glutinosa Imperialis, weeping Betula pendula, double-flowered Rosa Félicité-Perpétue, coloured forms of grasses, sedges and perennials.
The RSPCA Garden – SILVER-GILT
Designed by Martyn Wilson, built by Landscape Associates and sponsored by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Project Giving Back.
- Inspiration: The RSPCA’s 200th birthday. By repurposing litter that’s harmed animals the charity rescues, the garden hopes to inspire visitors to create outdoor spaces for all creatures to share.
- Design features: A contemporary structure like a wildlife observation hide, enables views out into the space. A natural stone feature wall, with bird nesting boxes, forms the rear. Laser-cut Corten steel contains a modern interpretation of a ‘dead hedge’ made from recycled garden waste. A rill, framed from recycled plastic, flows through the garden, cascading into a pool.
- Key plants: Hedging and a canopy of native trees and shrubs add to the naturalistic planting. Shades of green, whites and tones of RSPCA blue dominate, with pollinator-friendly plants.
Cavernoma on My Mind – SILVER
Designed by Taina Suonio and Anne Hamilton, built by Thomas Salmon and sponsored by The Cavernoma Society.
- Inspiration: The garden’s sections evoke feelings or symptoms that are common among patients with cavernoma. This is a lesion made up of abnormal blood vessels, often found in the brain or spine.
- Design features: Above the planting, glass steps ascend to a viewing platform and a water feature which flows gently down a wall.
- Key plants: Acer griseum (blood-bark maple) recalls the thin blood vessels of cavernomas. Taxus baccata cushions in different sizes represent the stages of cavernoma. The prickly foliage echoes shooting nerve pains. The dark flowers of Rosa Nuits de Young and Aconitum napellus denote despair and fear of death. Raspberries feature for their physical resemblance to cavernoma – the logo of the Cavernoma Society.
Chelsea Flower Show 2023 – The Great Pavilion exhibitors
- Best Exhibit in the Great Pavilion: Kells Bay House & Gardens – Ferns of Kells Bay Gardens.
- The President’s Award: Kevock Garden Plants.
- New Design Award: Caley Brothers – Home-grown edible mushrooms.
- Best Discovery Exhibit: Sparsholt College – Rustic Recipes Reimagined.
Gold medal winners
- Alchemy Ferns: alchemyferns.co.uk. Hardy ferns and tree ferns.
- Barbados Horticultural Society: horticulturebarbados.com.
- Birmingham City Council: www.birmingham.gov.uk/parks.
- Blackmore & Langdon Ltd: blackmore-langdon.com. Delphiniums and Begonias.
- Bloms Bulbs: blomsbulbs.com.
- Bowdens Nursery Limited: bowdensnursery.com. Our Iconic British Nurseries.
- Brighter Blooms: brighterblooms.co.uk. Container-grown Zantedeschia (Calla).
- Brookfield Plants: brookfieldplants.co.uk. Hostas.
- Burncoose Nurseries: burncoose.co.uk. Trees for Climate Change.
- Caley Brothers: caleybrothers.co.uk. Mushrooms.
- The Cheshire Bonsai Society: cheshirebonsaisociety.co.uk.
- Chrysanthemums Direct: chrysanthemumsdirect.co.uk.
- Craig House Cacti: craighousecacti.co.uk. Cacti and succulents.
- David Austin Roses Ltd: davidaustinroses.co.uk.
- Derbyshire Bonsai: derbyshirebonsai.co.uk.
- Dibleys Nurseries: dibleys-shop.com. Begonias, Coleus, Gesneriads and houseplants.
- Every Picture Tells a Story: everypicture-shop.com.
- Federation of British Bonsai Societies: fobbsbonsai.co.uk.
- Harts Nursery: hartsnursery.co.uk. Lilies.
- Home Farm Plants: www.homefarmplants.co.uk.
- Hoyland Plant Centre: somethingforthegarden.co.uk.
- Hoyland Plant Centre: hoylandplantcentre@btconnect.com.
- Jacques Amand International Ltd: jacquesamandintl.com.
- John Peace Chrysanthemums: www.johnpeace.co.uk.
- Kells Bay House & Gardens: kellsbay.ie.
- Kelnan Plants: kelnanplants.com.
- Kevock Garden Plants: kevockgarden.co.uk.
- Kitchen Garden Plant Centre: kitchengardenplantcentre.co.uk.
- Letham Plants: letham-plants.co.uk.
- Lincolnshire Pond Plants Ltd: lincspplants.co.uk.
- Moore & Moore Plants: mooreandmooreplants.co.uk.
- New Forest Hostas & Hemerocallis: newforesythostas.co.uk.
- Norfield Nurseries Ltd: norfieldnursery@btconnect.com.
- Orchid Society of Great Britain: osgb.org.uk.
- Ottershaw Cacti: ottershawcacti.com.
- Peter Beales Roses: peterbealesroses.com.
- Pheasant Acre Plants: www.pheasantacreplants.co.uk.
- Proctors Nursery Ltd: www.proctorsnursery.co.uk.
- Pure Grenada: www.puregrenada.com.
- Raymond Evison Clematis: raymondevisonclematis.com.
- Roualeyn Fuchsias: roualeynfuchsias.co.uk.
- Sienna Hosta: siennahosta.co.uk.
- South West in Bloom and Burpee Europe: Learning to Grow, Gather and Show, www.burpeeeurope.com.
- Sparsholt College: Rustic Recipes Reimagined.
- Surreal Succulents: surrealsucculents.co.uk.
- Taylors Bulbs: bulbs.co.uk.
- Trinidad and Tobago: Tropical flowers.
- Tynings Climbers: tyningsplants.co.uk.
- W.S. Warmenhoven: warmenhoven.co.uk.
Chelsea Flower Show 2023 – Silver-gilt medal winners
- Ashcroft’s Perennials and Ornamental Grasses: ashcroftsperennials.co.uk.
- Binny Plants: binnyplants.com. Hardy perennials and peonies.
- Bumblebee Conservation: Trust Bee the Change.
- Calamazag Nursery: calamazagnursery.co.uk. Dianthus and alpines.
- Claire Austin Hardy Plants: claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk. Herbaceous perennials.
- Claire Austin Hardy Plants: claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk. Iris.
- Daisy Roots: daisyroots.com. Late summer perennials and grasses.
- Darren Everest Sweet Peas: darreneverestsweetpeas.co.uk.
- Hare Spring Cottage Plants: harespringcottageplants.co.uk. Camassia and complementary hardy perennials.
- Harkness Roses: harknessrosecompany.com.
- Hedgehog Plants: www.theinterestingplantnursery.co.uk. An Epimedium Theatre.
- Hogarth Hostas: hogarth-hostas.co.uk. Educational display.
- Middleton Nurseries: middletonnurseries.co.uk. Potted salvias.
- Pineview Plants: pineviewplants.co.uk. Shade-loving plants.
- Potash Nursery: potashnursery.co.uk. Pelargoniums.
- Swallowfields Nursery: www.swallowfieldsnursery.com. Spring flowering perennials.
- The Botanic Nursery: botanicnursery.co.uk. Foxgloves with companion plants.
- The No Name Nursery: nonamenursery.com. Hardy and half-hardy exotics.
- Victorian Violas: Hardy perennial violas.
Silver medal winners
- Agrumi Topiary Art: topiaryart.co.uk. Topiary sculptures.
- Blue Diamond Group with The National Trust: Working Together for the Love of Nature.
- Blue Tangerine Federation and Natural Academy: Mind, Body and Nature.
- Bowdens Nursery Limited: bowdensnursery.com. Ferns.
- Fleur de Lys: conservatoryplants.co.uk. Conservatory plants and tender species.
- John Cullen Gardens: johncullengardens.com. National collection of Achillea millefolium.
- Miles Japanese Maples: milesjapanesemaples.co.uk. Acer palmatum.
- J.P. Wright & Company: Orchid Conservation – Finding the rare Florida Ghost Orchid.
- Pelham Plants Nursery Ltd: pelhamplants.co.uk. Hardy herbaceous perennials and grasses.
- Perennial Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Society: Helping People in Horticulture.
- Zena Holloway: Rootfall.
Bronze medal winners
- Blue Diamond Group with The Soil Association: Why Soil?
- Bowdens Nursery Limited: bowdensnursery.com. Agapanthus.
- Bowdens Nursery Limited: bowdensnursery.com. Bamboo.
- Plantbase: Plantbase.co.uk.
- GrowToKnow CiC: Closing the Green Gap.
No award
- Fauna & Flora: Botanic Guardians.
Houseplant Studio Awards
- Geb & Green Steam.Clean.Plant.Repeat – GOLD and BEST HOUSEPLANT STUDIO.
- Grow Tropicals GrowTropicals x Studio ATYPICAL: The Language of Plants – GOLD.
- Beards & Daisies Plant School: Planting the Future – SILVER-GILT.
- Tropical Plants UK (Nursery Opperman Plants Ltd) Keep Calm: Grow British – SILVER-GILT.
- Botanical Boys: Botanical Recharge – SILVER.
Chelsea Flower Show 2023 – Floristry Awards
Ambassadors’ Choice: Emma Thistlethwaite: Annual. Floral installation.
Gold medal winners
- Hubbards Florist: Floral Bin – Hubbards Florist: The Beauty of Recycling. BEST FLORISTRY EXHIBIT.
- Helen James Flowers: Floral Lamp Post – Helen James Flowers: On the Verge.
- Julie Pearson Floral Designer: Floral Bin – Julie Pearson Floral Designer: A Botanical Spillage.
Silver-gilt medal winners
- Acacia Creative Studio: Floral Bin – Acacia Creative Studio: Woven Tranquillity.
- Gentle Blooms: Floral Bin – Gentle Blooms: My Floral Soul.
- Jones & Jones Flowers: Floral Lamp Post – Jones & Jones.
- Lara Thorpe: Floral Bin – Lara Thorpe: Purple Passion.
- Plantology Floral Creations: Floral Lamp Post – Plantology Floral Creations: My Bygone Street.
Silver medal winners
- Floral Media: Floral Bin – Floral Media: Wasting Time.
- Fresh Ideas Florists: Floral Bin – Fresh Ideas Florists: Eyes in the Line.
- Norris Floristry: Floral Bin – Norris Floristry: Tipping Point.
- Rose Cao Floral Design: Floral Lamp Post – Rose Cao Floral Design: Light Dance.
Bronze medal winners
- Hartley English Flowers: Floral Bin – Hartley English Flowers: Life’s Rich Tapestry.
- Tina Aram Floristry: Floral Lamp Post – Tina Aram: Floral Puddles.
- Young Blooms Florist: Floral Lamp Post – Young Blooms Florist: Nature’s Resilience.
