Founded in 1991, by Hannah and Nick Wade, the Gardeners Delight Nursery is a family-run business based in Barnstaple. To the scale of approximately fifty thousand plants per year, the nursery produces an extensive range of herbaceous perennials, bedding and vegetable plants, trees, shrubs, roses and clematis for trade, retail and contract growing.
Exhibiting at a show such the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show is a privilege and provides nurseries with an opportunity to raise their profile and broaden their clientele. However, participating nurseries make notable (financial) sacrifices and overcome substantial physical & mental obstacles to exhibit at the show. Especially for small, family-run businesses – which tend to be the norm in our industry, exhibiting requires months of dedication, capital, and represents a substantial drain on the time available for the business of the nursery. In addition to high opportunity costs in terms of lost sales at peak business season, the cost of transport and accommodation represent a substantial sacrifice. To date, no sales were permitted in the Great Pavilion, adding to the substantial cash flow gamble, which hopefully would result in good post-show sales.
Privileged to experience and participate behind the scenes, we have met many of the wonderful people who dedicate months (sometimes years) of their lives to make it to the show. So why do they do it? The answer, often accommodated with a shoulder shrug, is always the same; “Because it’s Chelsea”.
For the Gardeners Delight Nursery, based in Barnstaple, North Devon, the journey to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show took 30 years, we follow them on their journey to the show.
The business of a nursery
Ever since they founded the nursery 30 years ago, the Wade’s have been very much hands-on, focussed primarily on building the business.
“With the enthusiasm of youth, we started Gardeners Delight Nursery with a farm field, a packet of seeds and a dream in 1991. We started with a farm field and no horticultural training or qualifications 34 years ago. In that time, we built the nursery ourselves putting up all the structures and infrastructure required such as power, water, a car park, and numerous pieces of machinery which all required a stable steady cash flow to fund them,” they explain.
Adding: “With May being the height of the gardening year, we focused our efforts on supplying hanging baskets to Barnstaple in Bloom along with all the other local villages and towns, built up a successful market garden and traded at markets and farmers markets. We had two young children and no outside help to look after them, which meant that attending larger shows that can take up to fourteen days away was not an option. Cash flow was paramount to our success and foundation, and we could not risk moving away from a tried and tested formula by attending larger shows which would have a larger financial commitment, be a drain on our time and not guarantee the all-important cash flow.”
Only since the last few years, have they started showing their wares at shows such as RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival in 2024 and RHS Malvern Show 2024. Gradually working towards their first exhibit at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
“Having attended plant fairs across the UK with our perennials for a number of years, we started our larger show journey two years ago after being encouraged to “have a go” at the larger shows following an exhibit that we displayed at RHS Rosemoor, which gained the curators award. In 2024 we displayed at RHS Malvern Spring, RHS Hampton Court and Malvern Autumn gaining Silver Guilt awards at each and gaining Best in Show at RHS Rosemoor which made us think that RHS Chelsea could be a possibility,” they explain.
The nursery is set on a five-acre plot. Two acres are used for plant production and the remainder is dedicated to market garden growing, along with a small orchard and a couple of bee hives. A small retail area functions as a garden centre for the sale to the public. The business employs four part time staff and when needed, are assisted (especially for shows) by their two children.
With the prospect of rising labour costs, the market garden was no longer viable for the business which promoted the duo to return to their roots as growers of perennials and “do what we loved and have a real passion for” and with that grew the opportunity for exhibiting at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025.
“The cost to exhibit is high as we are based in North Devon, so transport and accommodation are our main areas of expense, but we hope to break even as some plant sales are now permitted in the Great Pavilion. We are also using the funds that we would normally use to advertise for our expenses as we believe that this will be a very good advert for us. There is a small amount of help from the RHS as this is our first year of exhibiting,” they explained.
“To be invited to exhibit is an honour and the pinnacle of our careers in horticulture and something we never thought we would be able to achieve and will allow us to pass on some of the knowledge that we have gained over thirty-four years of growing a very broad range of plants. Exhibiting will promote our business to a very large audience and is already opening new areas of horticulture for us, such as working with plant breeders to launch new plants to British Horticulture, along with other avenues that we shall investigate in the future as we continue to grow our business. Only time will tell how the journey unfolds, but it makes the future exiting.”
Delighting gardeners at RHS Chelsea
With a containerised exhibition space measuring 6×4 metres, the Gardeners Delight Nursery will be exhibiting 1,000 perennials that will attract butterflies, dragonflies, bees and pollinators into the Great Pavilion.
The Devon based nursery hopes to provide inspiration for smaller gardens, balconies and regenerated spaces to create beautiful displays of colourful herbaceous perennials, that are beneficial for pollinators – whatever size the space. Geums, euphorbias, salvias, armeria, dahlias, thalictrums, nepitas, erodiums and achileas will feature, all of which are not only attractive to pollinators but also happily live in pots.
“Although the space is small, it’s perfectly formed; bordered with steel railings, it contains everything you need in a floral display to entice pollinators. The design was initially inspired by the idea of fitting a smaller pollinator-friendly garden into a concrete yard or disused space. The railings in the design ask urban dwellers to consider planting perennials that attract bees and butterflies within the confines of their courtyard, balcony or garden. The display contains a seating area comprised of bug huts (to create habitat for wildlife), and we have incorporated a moon-gateway that leads the eye to a more naturalised urban area with a pathway.”
Along with Pinnacle Plants (UK agents for the plant breeder Keith Kirsten), the Wade’s are also taking part in the 2025 RHS Plant of the Year competition with their newly launched variegated Agapanthus praecox subsp. orientalis Zambezi.
Team Gardeners Delight Nursery for the 2025 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, consist of: Nick and Hannah Wade, along with their two children; Matthew Wade (Director of research at UK Active); Emma Wade (PE teacher in Cardiff) and partner, Owain Hughes (Lab Technician at Cardiff Metropolitan University); and part time staff Cordellia Bellew and Jade Pollock.
Thank you and good luck
There are no guarantees when exhibiting at flower shows, including the juggernaut that is, RHS Chelsea. The capital and effort required to participate for nurseries is substantial, and for many will continue to be huge stumbling block. The presence of our industry’s nurseries in the Great Pavilion and beyond, should therefore always be celebrated and supported.
To all the extraordinary plantsmen & women, without whom flower shows and our gardens would look very dull indeed, we thank you. We wish you all the very best for this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
