The six houseplant exhibitors stealing the show at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021

Blame it on Instagram, blame it on millennials, but the Great Pavilion is at risk of being upstaged this year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show as a snazzy new indoors exhibit dedicated to houseplants shows off the splendour of indoor growing.

The Houseplant Studios reflects an enthusiasm on the part of the RHS to encourage a younger crowd to their shows, from the Urban Garden Show that ran in London a few years ago to the Houseplant Takeover that appeared at Wisley just before the pandemic.

Six design teams have each taken on a Houseplant Studio, to demonstrate the peace and power that growing plants indoors can offer – as well as demonstrate that there’s more to interior plantscaping than collecting dusty succulents.

For houseplant aficionados, this is a galvanising and exciting opportunity to see indoor jungles judged on the same level as show gardens; for those who still haven’t succumbed to keeping a tropical plant indoors, or twisting a vine around a bookcase, it’s an opportunity to see the most prominent gardening trend of the past decade on the stage it deserves.

Here’s the need-to-know on who, and what, to look out for:

Forest

Exhibitor: Fran Bailey

Florist and houseplant expert Fran Bailey has long been ahead of the curve in offering beautifully styled plants in her shops in East Dulwich and Deptford. Forest has become a family affair, with daughters Maddie and Alice Bailey sharing the running, and so it is with Chelsea: Alice and Maddie’s book The Green Indoors has inspired Fran’s design by prioritising care of houseplants over their aesthetic appeal.

“We’ve tried to recreate a small patch of the rainforest. So quite ambitious!” Fran says. “The idea is to learn how your plants grow in their natural habitat - whether that’s the tropics or the desert - and apply that to the way you grow them at home.”

Her design will feature poles acting as tree trunks to provide support for staghorn ferns, bromeliads, epiphytes, tillandisa and orchids, with the result being a studio almost hidden by a forest of plants.

Fran’s mission isn’t to appeal to people her daughters’ age but sway the minds of those nearer her own. “I’m of the generation where people are quite snooty about houseplants,” she says. “If people who think they’re not houseplant people could come and have a look and be converted, I’d be really happy.”

Green Bathroom Retreat

Exhibitor: Conservatory Archives

Ever since Conservatory Archives cropped up on the Hackney Road, East London, in 2015, it marked a distinct shift in how people shop for houseplants. Formerly the oldest ironmonger in London, the airy shop exemplifies an aesthetic that has now become familiar: stripped-back walls, bare plaster and abundant plants.

And it’s this keen eye and aspirational style that founder Jin Anh and her colleagues Amy and Lily will be bringing to RHS Chelsea.

Their Houseplant Studio will be a “hyper-real version of what people could apply to their own bathrooms”, with begonias, alocasias and epiphytes among the humidity-loving specimens sprucing up the shower. The Green Bathroom Retreat will also host demonstrations on taking cuttings.

With more than 110,000 Instagam followers, the Conservatory Archives team are familiar with emergent houseplant trends, but they hope their design will reflect something that bypasses fashion: “Through spending time at home and quietly enjoying the shape and form of the plants around you, we hope that growing plants indoors becomes more than a trend and instead a way of living.”

The Green Room

Exhibitor: Malvern Garden Buildings with Indoor Garden Design

For this exhibit, Indoor Garden Design’s creative director Ian Drummond has coined an entertaining term for the gaggle of fancy foliage he’ll be deploying. “‘Planterati’” is the term we’re using to describe the stars of the show,” he says.

“Houseplants take centre stage in the installations we create for celebrity functions, so The Green Room will be a glamorous VIP hangout for the plants themselves with the ideal lighting, humidity, temperature, and growing space.”

The Green Room will also be a technologically cutting-edge space, with Drummond deploying hydroponics and grow lights to impress visitors, regardless of how familiar they are with houseplants. With neon pink macrame hangers containing Vanda orchids and Rhipsalis, the space will be the closest thing you might find to a nightclub on the Royal Hospital grounds - with a view to showing you how to make your own.

“Our aim is to celebrate our passion for houseplants and show how a garden studio can offer an extension to your living space without giving up the greenery of your garden,” says Drummond.

Pharmacy of House Plants

Exhibitor: The Edible Bus Stop

Mak Gilchrist has teamed up with houseplant purveyors Patch to create a holistic space inspired by the benefits of plants so broadly experienced during the pandemic. The Pharmacy of House Plants will feature variegated specimens in calming white pots to conjure a calming atmosphere, with a bespoke soundscape to truly transport those visitors hoping to get a prescription of inspiration.

Aquatic plants will bob around alongside cuttings in medicinal-looking bottles and jars. “It’s not just about plants in pots,” says Mak. “Cuttings are a great way to encourage community because you can share plants with each others.”

For Mak, access is key - the space has been designed to be wheelchair friendly - and the ultimate plan is to try and take the Pharmacy beyond Chelsea. “I wish I could put it on a high street somewhere, so anyone could walk in,” she says.

Celebrate Autumn with Plants

Exhibitor: N1 Garden Centre

Houseplants are often snubbed for their limited seasonal show – when leaves fall inside it’s less appealing than in the garden. But Paul Holt from London’s N1 Garden Centre is embracing a love of autumn that stems from his boyhood days on a pumpkin farm with this exhibit, with a view to inspiring a new look at houseplants in the process.

“Obviously houseplants have been popular now for a good five years, but in the 70s is people got a bit fed up with them,” he says. “I wanted to do was try and inspire people to style the house plants so that they can get excited about them all over again.”

Autumnal-toned varieties such as Aglaonema ‘Orange Star’ and ‘Red Star’ and the orange, yellow and white berries of the Nertera granadensis will be styled with pine cones and, of course, pumpkins, to create a cosy aesthetic as the nights draw in.

The Office by the RHS

Exhibitor: RHS Wisley Retail

Not a horticultural version of Ricky Gervais’ landmark comedy, but rather a reflection on how our working lives have changed over the past couple of years. Thomas Broom Hughes has designed the ultimate in garden office envy, with soft pink interiors proving a delicious backdrop for hanging plants, kokedama and soft furnishings.

Hughes may also be on the brink of bringing a rather overlooked houseplant back into fashion: “One of the key plants will be the peace lily,” he says.

“Although these are seen as rather ubiquitous houseplants, the fact that they are flowering, have the ability to purify the air and are easy to look after make them a key plant to use in this design.” The Office will also nod to its exterior, with a bistro set, autumn planting and containers of dicksonias creating the lush retreat of a room in the garden.