At 150, Hillier have major anniversaries to celebrate in 2015. They are chasing a record 70th consecutive RHS Chelsea Gold Medal; Ricky Dorlay is preparing Hillier’s 4,000 Chelsea trees and shrubs for a 50th year; and Andrew McIndoe is designing the Hillier Exhibit for a 25th year. But on Chelsea Friday, Hillier will notch up an exciting Chelsea First with the inaugural Young Hillier Day.

For one day only and for the first time every, a show manning team of 14 Hillier staff, trainees and apprentices, Writtle College students and RHS Wisley student, Jamie Butterworth, will take over the running of the largest exhibit in the Chelsea Great Pavilion.

From 8am to 8pm on Chelsea Friday, the younger generation will be managing the exhibit, fielding gardening queries from show visitors, maintaining the plant material and sharing information and advice to gardeners.

Three members of the Young Hillier team are Hillier Garden Centres Management trainees, five are Hillier nursery or garden centre employees – including production horticulture apprentice, 16 year-old Lewis Young - five are horticultural students from Writtle College and one is a RHS Wisley Diploma student.

The three Hillier trainees – Zoe Page, Craig Fields and Tam Blake - are the very first intake to the new Hillier Garden Centres programme to develop, train and inspire the company’s future garden centre managers and trainees. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is so central to the Hillier Legacy that show experience is seen as an essential part of their training.

The Young Hillier team will also form part of the larger Hillier Chelsea Staging team, which will transform the 24m x 24m Monument site from park to a series of interlinking gardens on the theme of ‘Crossing Continents’ over the course of just 10 days.

www.hillier.co.uk