Blue Diamond Gardens Centres will once again be exhibiting at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show after their success on Main Avenue last year, where their Show Garden won People’s Choice and the inaugural Children’s Choice Awards.

This time they will be exhibiting in the Grand Pavilion (GPB 032), working with Leaf Creative to design an immersive, walk through, cottage style garden which will serve to showcase a ‘treasure trove’ of never-before-seen plants, many of which are exclusive to Blue Diamond Garden Centres and which will be launched at the show.

One such plant is a first of its kind….

Hydrangea, Groundbreaker® Blush™, bred by Alex Schoemaker, is the world’s first true groundcover Hydrangea, growing to a height of 30cm and a spread of 60cm. 

Adorned with conical clusters of four-petalled blooms, which start off white before warming to a rosy pink through the season, these smother the neat mound of small, delicate leaves throughout summer and into autumn, giving over 100 days of blooms!

Blue Diamond Garden Centres will be the first to bring this plant to the garden centre market and it will be available to buy in all Blue Diamond Garden Centres from late July/early August.

Hydrangea, Groundbreaker® Blush™

Image credits- Breeder Alex Schoemaker and agent to the breeder, Plantipp

Blue Diamond Garden Centres are also launching four new and exclusive roses at this year’s show, all bred by renowned rose breeder, Rosen Tantau. 

Rosa ‘Vianne’s Chocolat’ on behalf of the best-selling author Joanne Harris, to celebrate the launch of her new book, ‘Vianne’, a prequel to Chocolat, which was made into an Oscar-nominated film in 2000.

This Hybrid Tea rose produces deep purple, highly fragrant blooms, nostalgic in style which repeat flower throughout the season, with a bushy upright growth.

Joanne has synaesthesia that allows her to smell colours and her new rose smells, to Joanne, aptly of chocolate!

Rosa ‘Vianne’s Chocolat’

Breeder synonym RT 17576 (credit Kyte Photography).  

Rosa ‘Stronger Together’ on behalf of Muscular Dystrophy UK.

This rose produces dual colour blooms, red outer petals with an attractive white centre which lead to a yellow stamen, making it the perfect rose to attract pollinators.

The Charity had great success at last year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show with their Main Avenue Show Garden, designed by Ula Maria and funded by grant-making charity Project Giving Back, which won Best in Show. Blue Diamond Garden Centres are delighted to be able to support the charity this year by launching a rose on their behalf.

Muscular Dystrophy UK is the leading charity for over 110,000 adults and children in the UK living with one of over 60 muscle wasting and weakening conditions.

Muscular dystrophies are a group of rare conditions, that gradually cause muscles to weaken and waste.

Rosa ‘Stronger Together’

Breeder synonym Tan16512

Rosa ‘Wedding Bouquet’ this exquisite Hybrid Tea rose produces snow-white blooms which contrast effectively against dark-green foliage. The perfect rose to include in a wedding bouquet!

Rosa ‘Wedding Bouquet’

Breeder synonym RT20820

And Rosa ‘Love Remembered’ named by winners, Gill Haines and Eleanor Morris of Blue Diamond’s ‘Name the Rose’ competition, run exclusively for their Diamond Club Members. This classic Hybrid Tea rose produces fragrant, elegant, large pink blooms.

Rosa ‘Love Remembered’

Breeder synonym Tan14550

But that’s not all, in Blue Diamond’s immersive, walk-through exhibit, they will showcase other never-before-seen plants which will be available to buy in Blue Diamond Garden Centres.

New plants for 2025 include; -

Hydrangea Fairytrail® White and Green, both new and exclusive to Blue Diamond Garden Centres.

Fairytrail®  hydrangeas produce ball shaped flowers that are a breakthrough in this type of Hydrangea, on long trailing stems with flowers at every leaf node covering the entire plant.  Fairytrail®  bloom from mid spring, the perfect way to start the hydrangea season early!

They thrive in a semi-shaded spot where they should be left to grow unhindered and are perfect in pots on the patio, hanging baskets or planted in the ground.

Image credits Valkplant - breeder Ushio Sakazaki, agent Valkplant

Fuchsia Dancers Mambo- combines the aesthetic traits of traditional varieties with the plant habit and earlier flowering of modern varieties. Shorter internodes and better branching make for a compact classic perfect for planting in a container. Two weeks earlier flowering means first-time gardeners can buy them in flower and enjoy them for longer.

Also available in the series are Fuchsia Jive, Salsa, Samba, Rumba and Waltz.

Blue Diamond Garden Centres are the first to bring these plants to the garden centre market

Mambo, Jive, Waltz, Rumba and Salsa (from left to right below)

Sundaville® Verona Red (featured below left)- a magnificent addition to the largest Mandevilla collection in the world. This new variety is the result of years of dedication and hard work to enhance and improve the classic features of the plant.

From March until the first frost, the Sundaville® Verona Red blooms with a vibrant and glossy red colour that does not fade under the sunlight.

Sundaville® Double Blush Pink (below right)

A real winner, the first double flowered Mandavilla with stunning double blush pink flowers with deep green leaves, smothering this plant from early May right through to the late Autumn

Both are new to Blue Diamond Garden Centres and Sundaville® Verona Red is also exclusive to Blue Diamond.

Geum FireStarter ©Proven Winners® Color Choice®, new and exclusive to Blue Diamond Garden Centres.

New UK Breeding has developed this full double large flowered Geum in the deepest of red flowers, that has a long flowering season for up to 3 months and excellent stem rigidity to hold the large flowers. With rich, deep green foliage providing ground cover for much of the year, this hardy Geum brings both structure and vivid colour to the garden.
Tolerant of full sun or partial shade, it thrives in moist, well-drained soil and works well alongside other early summer perennials, offering continuous impact for months.

Hebe Lime Pickle- new to Blue Diamond Garden Centres, this vivid, lime green foliage with lovely purple flowers in summer, are perfect for attracting bees and other pollinators to the garden. Foliage remains all year round.  

Nemesia Peaches and Cream, new to Blue Diamond Garden Centres –produces wonderful, heavily scented blooms of pink and lemon that smother the plant throughout the summer months, creating an eye-catching cloud of colour and are again perfect for attracting bees to the garden. 

Verbascum Peach Champagne, new to Blue Diamond Garden Centres, is a stunning perennial which catches the eye with its upright spikes of peachy flowers that add vertical interest to sunny borders or cottage gardens

‘Digitalis’ Apple Blossom, new to Blue Diamond Garden Centres. This new foxglove presents triple flower power through its totally new, frilly, orchid-like flower shape; its unique blend of pale pinkish white lower flowers with creamy yellow upper flowers; and its exceptionally generous blooming; with a queue of secondary flower spikes already waiting to follow hot on the heels of the first.

But that’s not all……. Blue Diamond’s exhibit will also include the oldest and rarest plant too!

Look out for the (Wollemi Nobilis) also known as the Wollemi Pine, one of the World’s oldest and rarest plants on the planet, dating back to the time of the dinosaurs! 

The original Wollemi nobilis, was first discovered in 1994 and shook the horticultural world when it first came to light deep in a secret gorge in Wollemi National Park, Australia. The plant, thought to have been extinct for 200 million years and only recognised through fossils, was found in a stand of only 100 trees.  

Today, the species is still critically endangered according to the IUCN Red List. To conserve this species, the trees have been propagated and planted in botanic gardens around the world.  

Blue Diamond’s exhibit will feature one of the original world breeding programme specimens!

A small number of Wollemi Pine will also be available to order from Blue Diamond’s exhibit during Show week. Each will come with a certificate of authenticity. Owners of this rare plant will become custodians, protecting this species for future generations to come.

This Pine will be planted with a selection of other Australasian plants that can be grown in the U.K., from Tree Ferns to Libertias.

Jill Kerr, Group Relationship Manager for Blue Diamond Garden Centres says; -

“Blue Diamond Garden Centre’s exhibit this year will really be a ‘treasure trove’! Full of never-before-seen plants to inspire and desire, whatever the budget. We pride ourselves in offering our customers a point of difference, high quality plants, many of which are home-grown in our UK based nurseries. We hope that visitors to RHS Chelsea Flower Show and ultimately to our Garden Centres, will find some real treasures for their homes and gardens, which are not available from anywhere else!”.

For all Press enquiries please contact; -

Jill Kerr- Group Relationship Manager for Blue Diamond Garden Centres

Email: - Jill.kerr@bluediamond.gg

Tel: - 07824 660701

Blue Diamond is the UK’s Number One Garden Centre group with 49 centres across the UK and Channel Islands. It owns 5 UK based nurseries which grow and supply plants exclusively for the Group. It also has its own brand of Fryer’s Roses, and it is the proud owner of Bridgemere Show Gardens, an RHS Partner Garden, set in 6-acres and which includes a collection of award-winning show gardens, including RHS Chelsea Gold medal winning gardens.  

Visit bluediamond.gg for more information

Leaf Creative Gardens

Leaf Creative is a garden design and retail centre, formed in 2018 by Chelsea Gold medallist Peter Dowle. This is where plants rule supreme together with its Fernery restaurant, a magical dining experience set amidst tropical plants.  Leaf Creative Gardens operates from the same site, designing gardens for construction throughout the Cotswolds and Southwest. Leaf Creative are proud partners of the Blue Diamond Garden Centre Group and have recently helped to construct the rebuild of the Group’s 2024 RHS Chelsea Show Garden at their Bridgmere Show Gardens in Nantwich, Cheshire.

Contact: - Enquiries@leafcreativegardens.co.uk

Peter Dowle- peter@leafcreative.co.uk

Joanne Harris OBE is the author of over 20 novels, including CHOCOLAT, which was made into an Oscar-nominated film in 2000.  Her work has been translated into over 50 languages and has won a number of British and international awards. She was the Chair of the Society of Authors for 6 years and has judged numerous literary prizes. She holds honorary doctorates in literature from the universities of Sheffield and Huddersfield, is an honorary Fellow of St Catharine's College, Cambridge, and in 2022 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

The Muscular Dystrophy UK

The Muscular Dystrophy UK helpline provides free information, advice and support to anyone living with a muscle wasting or weakening condition as well as family members, carers and friends. This could include emotional support following a recent diagnosis, advice about services available, help navigating the benefits system, information about housing and home adaptations, or support on employment issues. Call the team on 0800 652 6352.

For more information, visit musculardystrophyuk.org