An audacious sex-themed garden has been confirmed for this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. The “pleasure garden” is sponsored by Lovehoney, a company that sells sex toys and vibrators, and will be full of flowers and plants associated with love and sex.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has confirmed the risqué addition, which will be named Aphrodite’s Hothouse, is being designed by James Whiting. The award-winning designer said he hopes it will “break taboos” and “make people stop in their tracks”. As well as being red or pink in colour, the plants will have heart-shaped leaves or flowers.
As reported by The Guardian, Mr Whiting said: “Chelsea flower show is the perfect stage for storytelling with plants, and I’ve never been one to play it safe. Creating the ultimate pleasure garden with Lovehoney was too irresistible to pass up.
“Gardens should spark curiosity, break a few taboos and make people stop in their tracks. Houseplants, much like pleasure, are something we should celebrate openly and abundantly.”
The designer, who founded Plants By There, added he would be using “flirty” and “playful” plants, including heartleaf philodendron and spiderwort. Other plants, such as phalaenopsis orchid and caladium, will signify early love blossoming.
Jo Connarty, of Lovehoney, said: “You don’t expect to see a sexual wellness brand at Chelsea flower show and that’s precisely the point. We’re always looking for cultural spaces to show up in and new ways to tell stories about sexual wellbeing, especially where it’s been absent.
“An immersive, unexpected pleasure garden designed to spark curiosity and challenge expectations, because if we want to change the conversation around sex, we can’t stay in our lane.”
The Chelsea Flower Show has been looking for new sponsors for its gardens after Project Giving Back confirmed 2026 would be the last year it funds the event. The RHS is now on the look out for new funding ahead of the 2027 addition.
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