Orchid Conservation Chelsea

At Orchid Conservation Chelsea 2023, we were proud to help bring one of the world’s rarest and most captivating orchids to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show: the Florida Ghost Orchid. Displayed as part of a wider international conservation collaboration, the plant became a powerful symbol of what orchid conservation can achieve when growers, researchers, and botanic institutions work together. Its appearance at Chelsea gave visitors a rare chance to see a species so often associated with mystery, rarity, and the fragility of wild habitats.

The story did not end at Chelsea. Just a week later, after the plant was rehomed at Kew, the Florida Ghost Orchid flowered for the first time in the UK, sparking international headlines and public fascination. What began as a conservation display at Chelsea became a major news moment, shining a spotlight on the importance of protecting endangered orchids and the extraordinary work behind their cultivation and survival.

After the phenomenal success of the Florida Ghost Orchid in 2023, GrowTropicals returned to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show’s Great Pavilion in 2024 alongside Orchid Conservation Chelsea. The display continued a collaboration with 22 global institutions, bringing together a remarkable collection of rare orchids from around the world and using Chelsea as a platform to celebrate their beauty while highlighting the importance of conservation.

The 2024 exhibit focused on orchids from three regions. The Orchids of Great Britain display included an in-bloom Cypripedium calceolus, Britain’s rarest flower, made possible with support from Kew Gardens and Essex Wildlife Trust. The Orchids of India display featured critically endangered species from southern India, including Paphiopedilum druryi, while the North American section showcased native species such as Cypripedium kentuckiense from Longwood Gardens, a globally vulnerable orchid with only around 4,500 plants thought to remain in the wild. Together, the displays gave visitors a rare opportunity to see these orchids in a more naturalistic setting and helped raise awareness of orchid conservation.

In 2025, our Chelsea display brought together an extraordinary group of orchid conservation stories from Singapore, Hong Kong, Hawaii and Australia, showing how science, horticulture and international collaboration could work hand in hand to protect some of the world’s rarest species. Staged under the title From Hong Kong to Australia: The Orchids of Asia & the Pacific, the exhibit featured more than 200 orchids supplied by 68 contributors across 25 organisations, and went on to win a Gold Medal in the Great Pavilion. The display was also awarded the prestigous Eric Young Trophy for the best Orchid display at an RHS Show in 2025.

Each section told a different story. Singapore’s contribution highlighted native orchids from the Botanic Gardens’ ex situ collection, arranged to reflect how they grow in the wild, and marked the Gardens’ first return to Chelsea in nearly 70 years. Hong Kong’s display recreated a mountain stream habitat and showcased native and South China orchids alongside Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden’s conservation work, from micropropagation to assisted pollination.

Australia completed the display with a striking bushland-inspired planting of terrestrial orchids, including rare Blue Sun and Donkey orchids some of the most unique orchids in the world.

Together, the four regions created a display that was not only visually arresting, but deeply purposeful, using Chelsea’s global stage to celebrate orchid diversity while making a clear case for conservation. The result was a display that captured international attention, earned royal interest, and reinforced the power of orchids to tell a bigger story about habitat loss, biodiversity and the need for urgent action.

This year, our Chelsea display will turn its focus to the Orchids of China, celebrating the extraordinary richness, beauty and botanical importance of one of the world’s most significant orchid habitats. Created in collaboration with Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden and Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, the display will bring together a remarkable range of species and genera, from elegant Cymbidiums and jewel-like Ludisia to Dendrobium officinale, Paphiopedilum and Cypripedium. Together, these plants will showcase the depth and diversity of Chinese orchids, from forest floor treasures to species of huge horticultural and conservation significance.

More than a display of beautiful plants, Orchids of China will highlight the vital role these species play in wider conservation and botanical research. Many Chinese orchids are closely tied to specific habitats and ecological relationships, making them both fascinating to study and especially vulnerable to environmental change. By bringing them to Chelsea, we hope to shine a light on their cultural, scientific and conservation value, while celebrating the international partnerships that help protect them.

Through this collaboration, the display will offer visitors a rare chance to experience a broad and carefully curated picture of Chinese orchid diversity in one space. It will be a story of beauty, rarity and shared conservation effort, using Chelsea’s global stage to inspire curiosity and underline the importance of safeguarding these remarkable plants for the future.