Chelsea Flower Show 2025

The King and Queen, accompanied by Members of the Royal Family, were be greeted on arrival by the President of the Royal Horticultural Society, Keith Weed, before touring the gardens and viewing the displays at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which runs from 20th to 24th May. 

Established in 1913, on the grounds of Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show has become one of the world’s greatest showcases for horticultural excellence, attracting victors and exhibitors from across the globe. Since its beginning, the show has gone from strength to strength. It has grown from 244 exhibitors in 1913 to over 400 horticultural exhibits. Today the show attracts 145,000 visitors each year.

Together, Their Majesties visited The RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden, designed by Monty Don. The garden, designed with dogs in mind, features grass areas for dogs to enjoy and a large tree providing shade. 

The brick paths are inscribed with the names of dogs belonging to Radio 2 presenters and RHS ambassadors, as well as Monty Don’s beloved dog Ned, to reflect the special place dogs hold in the nation’s hearts and gardens.

The names of The Queen’s adopted Jack Russell Terrier, Bluebell and her new puppy, Moley, will be feature on the path, alongside that of her much loved dog Beth, who passed away last year. The name of The King’s dog, Snuff, is also included on the path. 

The Garden for Dogs will live on after RHS Chelsea at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, of which The Queen is Patron.

The King will also visit The King's Trust Garden: Seeding Success, supported by Project Giving Back and designed by Joe Perkins. The garden is inspired by the potential of the more than one million young people supported by The Trust since it was founded almost 50 years ago, in 1976. It showcases the ability of seeds to adapt and flourish in hostile environments, drawing parallels with the resilience of young people who can overcome adversity and thrive when given the right support. 

Screen-printed glass panels weave through the garden to convey an artistic representation of seed dispersal. Drifts of grass and perennials are punctuated by low growing shrubs. These flank basalt paths which culminate in an intimate, quiet space. Following the show, the garden will be rehomed at Uxbridge College, West London where it will be used, developed and maintained by young people enrolled on The King’s Trust programmes, other students and the local community.

His Majesty also visited The Wildlife Trusts' British Rainforest Garden, designed by Zoe Claymore. The garden of The Wildlife Trusts, of which The King is Patron, has been designed to evoke the wild and wet woodlands that once swathed the British west coast. 

Inspired by the ambitious 100-year-old mission of The Wildlife Trusts to bring the rainforests back to the British Isles, the garden has been designed as a representation of this precious habitat, which now only covers about one percent of British land. A raised accessible wooden walkway will immerse visitors in a sensory journey through the design. Flowing water provides a calming soundtrack through lichened birch trees, moss planting and dense ferns and foxgloves. 

Meanwhile, Her Majesty visited The London Square Chelsea Pensioners Garden, designed by Dave Green. To be based at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, home of the famous Chelsea Pensioners, this garden will be an accessible and secluded space for different generations to socialise, or to enjoy quiet reflection in nature. 

Working with the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the designer, Dave Green, aims to reflect the 300-year-old heritage of “a home for soldiers broken by age and war.” The garden also seeks to foster a spirit of participation, encouraging visitors to keep active in their later years. 

The stories of Chelsea Pensioners have shaped the design of the garden, with several features linking directly to their past experiences and their home at the Royal Hospital. The design of the garden is inspired by the joining of hands, when Pensioners and their guests come together, and sketches of linked hands were used to shape the layout. Boundaries will include native hedging and brick walling that links to the architecture of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, where gaps in the brickwork will allow garden users to look through to the wider landscape. A sunken space, accessed via a sloped path, will act as a place to gather and be enclosed by planting at seat height.

During his tour of the Show, The King also visited The British Red Cross ‘Here for Humanity’ Garden, designed by John Warland and Tom Bannister. The garden is inspired by Henri Dunant – the Swiss visionary founder of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement – and the countless volunteers who have dedicated their lives to impartial and compassionate service supporting people in crisis in the UK and overseas.

A contemporary twist on an alpine garden, with large stone column-like planters which mimic traditional trough alpine displays, while areas of scree and crevice planting allow for a unique collection of plants to be shown. Alpine species come from areas where the Red Cross has recently provided disaster relief including Morocco, Turkey and the UK. Specimen trees including Pinus cembra (Swiss pine), a nod to the charity’s origin, wrap the landscape while calming mountain streams tumble throughout.

Their Majesties also visited Hospice UK's Garden of Compassion, designed by Tom Hoblyn. This garden draws on the spirit of Mediterranean landscapes, showing how thoughtfully designed spaces can play a crucial role in providing comfort and calm at the end of life.

Inspired by the Olive Houses in Mallorca and broader Mediterranean settings, it uses large rocks to create a strong sense of being grounded in nature. The layout mirrors the Olive Houses’ concept of interconnected rooms, offering everything from secluded corners for quiet moments to more open spaces for more communal use. Sculptural benches and water bowls draw visitors in, adding to the garden’s sense of tranquillity and reflection.

The Queen also visited The Glasshouse Garden, designed by Jo Thompson. This garden celebrates the transformative effect of second chances through horticulture. It embodies the sense of purpose, self-belief and hope The Glasshouse programme offers to women as they approach the end of their prison sentences, through a programme of horticultural training, employment and resettlement support.

An immersive space centred around a translucent elliptical pavilion emerging from the foliage, the Garden is full of sensory delights. Jewel-like colours and fragrant flowers sway to the sound of water from a narrow rill which winds its way through the space connecting different areas and ending in a tranquil pool.

The King and Queen ended their tours of the Show at the Bees for Development balcony garden, designed by Jenny Rafferty. Inspired by Africa and the vital connection between bees, people, and biodiversity, this urban retreat transforms a small space into a pollinator haven. Traditional English and African beehives highlight the role of bees in mitigating biodiversity loss, climate change, and poverty.

Vibrant, pollinator-friendly plants provide colour, pollen, and nectar through the seasons. This balcony garden shows that even the smallest urban spaces can support bees and biodiversity-aligning with Bees for Development’s mission of making life better with bees. Her Majesty has been Patron of the charity since 2020.