Vote for the RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year 2025
It's the People's Choice!
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is just days away, and that means the gardening community is on tenterhooks about the most renowned prize in plants - the Chelsea Plant of the Year.
The finalists have been released, and it’s awash with colour - and not just in terms of flowers: there’s a gold and red-leaved Geranium, a scarlet-hued Miscanthus, and two surprisingly similar hostas which both feature narrow leaves with ruffled edges.
The Plant of the Year is judged by the RHS Expert Groups - several groups of volunteers who come from amateur, professional, and commercial backgrounds. Each group centres around a specialism - i.e. bulbs, alpines, etc. - so they’re certainly in the best position to judge the qualities of these finalists!
However, I’ve always wondered what the public thinks when it comes to the Plant of the Year. What if we all had the chance to have our say? Would the outcome be vastly different to the judges’ selection? Let’s find out!
Below, I’ve listed each of the plants, and you can click the button to vote for your favourite. Scroll on to read about each one, and then cast your vote! I’ll reveal the people’s choice winner and runner-up once the official RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year winner has been announced!
Salvia ‘Tropicolor Sunrise’
Breeder: La Rolando Uría and Francisco Lozano. Exhibitor: Middleton Nurseries.
A striking new salvia with vivid orange flowers and contrasting bronze calyxes, ‘Tropicolor Sunrise’ adds bold colour and texture to borders and containers. Bred in Argentina, this standout variety offers something fresh and eye-catching for summer planting schemes.
Hosta ‘Party Streamers’
Breeder: Hans Hansen (Walter’s Gardens). Exhibitor: Sienna Hosta. Supplier: Fairweather’s Nursery.
This fun, small hosta forms a neat clump of long, wavy yellow leaves and produces tall spikes of dark purple flowers in summer. It’s relatively slug resistant, copes well with sun, and brings a lively, cheerful look to shady spots or containers.
Hosta ‘Silly String’
Breeder: Hans Hansen (Walter’s Gardens). Exhibitor: Sienna Hosta. Supplier: Fairweather’s Nursery.
‘Silly String’ offers narrow, ruffled blue-green leaves that create a cascading, textured mound perfect for shaded borders or pots. In summer, it sends up pale purple flowers, and its pollution tolerance makes it ideal for city gardens.
Clematis ‘Elpis’
Breeder: Raymond J Evison Ltd. Exhibitor: Raymond Evison Clematis. Supplier: The Guernsey Clematis Nursery Ltd.
‘Elpis’ is a showy, compact clematis with large, star-shaped ruby-red flowers and creamy-yellow centres. Blooming in two waves from late spring to early autumn, it adds long-lasting colour and elegance to fences, trellises, or arches.
Agapanthus ‘Zambezi’
Breeder: Keith Kirsten. Exhibitor: Gardeners Delight Nursery. Supplier: Sarah Raven.
‘Zambezi’ stands out with its striking variegated leaves edged in gold and tall stems topped with violet-blue blooms. Even out of flower, its bold foliage adds structure and interest to beds, borders, or pots.
Salvia ‘Peach Melba’
Breeder: Stuart Roycroft. Exhibitor: Proctor’s Nursery. Supplier: Sarah Raven.
A compact, aromatic salvia with soft, peachy-pink bicolour blooms from spring into autumn, ‘Peach Melba’ is a magnet for pollinators and thrives in sunny, dry spots. Ideal for patios or borders, it responds well to spring and post-flowering pruning.
Rhododendron ‘Pink Star’
Breeder: Martin Ponjee. Exhibitor: Sparsholt College. Supplier: Thompson & Morgan.
This compact rhododendron offers a burst of star-shaped deep pink blooms above glossy green leaves. Easy to grow and low maintenance, it’s perfect for small gardens, containers, or borders needing bold colour with little effort.
Hemerocallis ‘See You Tomorrow’
Breeder: Michel van’t Hul. Exhibitor: Sparsholt College. Supplier: Thompson & Morgan.
Unlike typical daylilies, ‘See You Tomorrow’ produces vibrant yellow trumpet-shaped flowers that last up to a week. Tough and adaptable, it performs well in heavy clay soil and adds cheerful colour to sunny spots in late summer.
Deutzia Prettistars ‘Pink Cloud’
Breeder: Botanic Experience BV. Exhibitor: Stonebarn Landscapes Ltd. Supplier: Suttons.
‘Pink Cloud’ is a compact, no-fuss shrub that produces clouds of pink flowers in spring. Hardy down to -20°C and happy in sun or shade, it requires little care—no pruning needed and spent blooms drop naturally.
Philadelphus ‘Petite Perfume Pink’
Breeder: Alan Postill. Exhibitor: Sparsholt College. Supplier: Hillier Nurseries Ltd.
A fragrant, pink-flowered mock orange with a compact form, this low-maintenance shrub is perfect for patios, borders, and containers. It’s highly tolerant of coastal or urban conditions and attracts pollinators all summer long.
Geranium ‘Gold Nugget’
Breeder: Alan Postill. Exhibitor: Sparsholt College. Supplier: Hillier Nurseries Ltd.
This hardy geranium features vivid golden foliage with red markings and soft pink summer flowers. Compact and easy to grow, it’s a great option for pots or sunny borders, bringing year-round interest with minimal care.
Streptocarpus ‘Betty’
Breeder: Lynne Dibley. Exhibitor: Dibleys Nurseries.
‘Betty’ is a compact, fast-growing houseplant that flowers prolifically with sky-blue blooms marked with deep purple. It has an upright form supported by strong stems, making it an attractive and low-maintenance choice for indoor colour year-round.
Prunus ‘Crystal Falls’
Breeder: Ken Tobutt. Exhibitor: Plant Heritage. Supplier: Frank P Matthews Trees.
A unique weeping cherry that flowers from mid-December, ‘Crystal Falls’ produces clusters of pure white double blooms that resist frost. Compact and fully hardy, it suits small gardens and containers, bringing winter interest in an elegant form.
Hydrangea ‘Fairytrail White’
Breeder: Mr. Ushio Sakazaki of WinGen LLC. Exhibitor: Blue Diamond Garden Centres. Supplier: Bransford Webbs Plant Company.
This innovative hydrangea trails beautifully, producing mophead blooms along every leaf node of its stems. Ideal for hanging baskets or containers in semi-shade, it needs no pruning and provides effortless floral impact from spring into autumn.
Rhaphiolepis indica ‘White Cloud’
Breeder: Peter van Groningen. Exhibitor: Sparsholt College. Supplier: Hillier Nurseries Ltd.
A tough, evergreen shrub with a rounded habit, ‘White Cloud’ bears masses of scented white flowers and thrives in containers or front-of-border positions. Low maintenance and resilient to drought and cold, it's a reliable garden performer.
Fuchsia Mambo ‘Kerfumam’
Breeder: Tim Kerley of Kerley & Co. Exhibitor: Blue Diamond Garden Centres. Supplier: Kerley & Co.
MAMBO is a compact fuchsia from the Patio Dancers Series, bred by Tim Kerley. It blends the traditional fuchsia aesthetic with modern improvements like a smaller size, better branching, and earlier flowering. Producing a mass of large, detailed flowers across a long season, it’s ideal for patio containers and grows to about 40 x 40cm.
Miscanthus sinensis ‘Lady in Red’
Breeder: Krzystof Slowinski. Exhibitor: Ashcroft’s Perennials and Ornamental Grasses.
‘Lady in Red’ is a striking ornamental grass with deep purple and green summer foliage that turns a bold red in autumn, beautifully offset by its silver flower plumes. Bred by Krzystof Slowinski, it’s low-maintenance, drought-tolerant once established, and brings interest to the garden all year round. Best in full sun, it reaches 160 x 150cm.
The problem with such votes is that we have no idea how these plants will perform over time, in our gardens.
Funny you should say that - I've been wondering what that various show gardens would look like in summer, autumn and winter.