This year's shortlist for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year has been announced, and there are some exciting new plants vying for the top spot in 2025.
You may also like:
- Tickets, information and what to expect at Chelsea
- Discover all our up-to-the-minute Chelsea news
- Chelsea Flower Show Gardens 2025: discover the full list
- How to design a garden at Chelsea
- Sign up to our Chelsea newsletter
Eighteen plants that have a 'new or improved feature' are on the shortlist, making them new additions to plants already widely available. Floral exhibitors in the Great Pavilion are invited to submit new plants to the competition ahead of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Entries are then considered by a panel of RHS and industry experts who then make the shortlist, which can be no more than 20. The shortlisted plants will go on sale at the show, and a winner will be chosen by RHS Expert Groups on Tuesday 20 May 2025.
Don't miss the RHS Chelsea Sustainable Product of the Year Shortlist
This year on the list there is an easy-to-grow orange salvia, two hostas, a fuchsia with a long flowering season, dark purple and green miscanthus, a weeping, winter-flowering ornamental cherry that is suitable for all sizes of garden and containers and a hemerocallis which flowers for up to 7 days.
The judges choose the shortlist based on novelty and innovation, garden performance and the likely appeal for UK gardeners.
The full shortlist for RHS Plant of the Year 2025
Salvia TROPICOLOUR SUNRISE (‘Tropog021’) (Tropicolour Series)
Breeder: La Rolando Uría and Francisco Lozano.
Exhibitor: Middleton Nurseries
This easy-to-grow Salvia requires no deadheading. Vibrant orange-red petals contrast with coppery yellow calyces, and its deep green leaves have striking purple undersides.
SQUIRREL_13206706
Hosta 'Party Streamers'
Breeder: Hans Hansen
Exhibitor: Sienna Hosta
A dramatic departure from the usual heart-shaped leaves, this Hosta has gold-coloured, long, narrow, leaves with ruffled edges.
SQUIRREL_13206707
Hosta 'Silly String'
Breeder: Hans Hansen
Exhibitor: Sienna Hosta
This Hosta has narrow blue leaves with intensely wavy margins, a dramatic departure from the usual heart-shaped leaves.
SQUIRREL_13206708
Clematis ELPIS (Evigsy154)
Breeder: Raymond J Evison Ltd.
Exhibitor: Raymond Evison Clematis
A ruby-red Clematis with vibrant and strong foliage (a rare trait in red cultivars). Prolific blooms from new growth and tertiary flowers make a stunning display lasting from late April until June and repeating in early autumn.
SQUIRREL_13206709
You may also like
Agapanthus praecox subsp orientalis ZAMBEZI ('Kek5006')
Breeder: Keith Kirsten
Exhibitor: Gardeners Delight Nursery.
This Agapanthus has broad dark green leaves streaked with creamy yellow and edged by a golden-yellow margin.
SQUIRREL_13206710
Salvia 'Peach Melba'
Breeder: New World Plants
Exhibitor: Proctor’s Nursery.
Large, two-tone peach and deep pink flowers in bloom for six months, creating a pollinator magnet. A neat bushy habit makes it ideal for smaller gardens, borders and containers.
SQUIRREL_BUTTON_13206712
Rhododendron molle subsp japonicum PINK STAR ('Mapo 2')
Breeder: Martin Ponjee
Exhibitor: Sparsholt College.
Eye-catching, star-shaped, deep reddish-pink flowers, each with an extraordinary 20 to 30 petals. This richly flowering Rhododendron combines elegance with garden resilience, being winter-hardy to -15°C.
SQUIRREL_13206713
Hemerocallis SEE YOU TOMORROW ('Huheo1')
Breeder: Michel van’t Hul
Exhibitor: Sparsholt College.
Unlike typical Hemerocallis (whose flowers fade after just one day), the flowers of this unique day lily each last up to 7 days.
SQUIRREL_13206714
Deutzia PRETTISTARS PINK CLOUD ('Botex 015')
Breeder: Botanic Experience BV.
Exhibitor: Stonebarn Landscapes Ltd.
Profuse flowering and compact ball-shaped growth make this Deutzia ideal for ground cover, borders or containers.
Philadelphus PETITE PERFUME PINK ('P1')
Breeder: Alan Postill.
Exhibitor: Sparsholt College.
The first truly pink-flowered Philadelphus. Deep pink buds open to fragranced flowers, the outside of the petals fading to pale pink with dark pink centres.
SQUIRREL_13206715
Geranium x oxonianum GOLD NUGGET ('Hillier')
Breeder: Alan Postill
Exhibitor: Sparsholt College.
A compact, mound-forming Geranium with unique bright golden foliage patterned with red markings. In early summer, pink flowers emerge that contrast with the foliage.
Streptocarpus 'Betty'
Breeder: Lynne Dibley.
Exhibitor: Dibleys Nurseries.
An easy-to-grow, compact houseplant that flowers year-round with vast numbers of large, sky-blue flowers with a flash of deep purple.
SQUIRREL_13206716
Prunus CRYSTAL FALLS
Breeder: Ken Tobutt
Exhibitor: Plant Heritage.
The first weeping, winter-flowering ornamental cherry. Its steeply weeping form means that it is suitable for all sizes of garden and even containers.
SQUIRREL_13206717
Hydrangea FAIRYTRAIL WHITE ('Wnhydfbvywmh') (Fairytrail Series)
Breeder: Mr. Ushio Sakazaki of WinGen LLC
Exhibitor: Blue Diamond Garden Centres
Mophead-shaped flowers are a breakthrough in this type of Hydrangea. The long trailing stems have flowers at every leaf node, covering the entire plant.
Rhaphiolepis indica 'White Cloud'
Breeder: Peter van Groningen
Exhibitor: Sparsholt College.
A compact, evergreen shrub with a mounded habit and prolific white fragrant flowers over a long period. Suitable for container growing or the front of a border, in sun or light shade.
SQUIRREL_13206718
Fuchsia MAMBO 'Kerfumam' (Patio Dancers Series)
Breeder: Tim Kerley of Kerley & Co.
Exhibitor: Blue Diamond Garden Centres.
MAMBO is one of five cultivars in the Patio Dancers Series. It combines the aesthetic traits of traditional fuchsias with the smaller habit and earlier flowering of modern cultivars, creating masses of large, intricate blooms over a long flowering season.
SQUIRREL_13206719
Lomandra longifolia MINER'S GOLD (Km-mg24')
Breeder: Keith Miner and Jen Miner
Exhibitor: Ashcroft’s Perennials and Ornamental Grasses.
The first golden Lomandra – an innovation among grass-like ornamental plants. Its striking golden foliage and elegant, weeping habit make it a standout selection for designers and gardeners, either as an accent plant or for mass ground cover.
SQUIRREL_13206720
Miscanthus sinensis 'Lady in Red'
Breeder: Krzystof Slowinski
Exhibitor: Ashcroft’s Perennials and Ornamental Grasses.
‘Lady in Red’ has a beautiful mix of dark purple and green leaves in the summer, undergoing a spectacular autumn colour change to vivid red as temperatures drop.
