Lovehoney Presents: Aphrodite’s Hothouse
RHS Cheslea Flower Show 2026
Gold Medal
James Whiting of Plants By There
Conceived as “the ultimate pleasure garden”, Aphrodite’s Hothouse is lush, fragrant, and just a little bit naughty.
Visitors were invited to step inside the hothouse and wander through its foliage lined, romantic ‘Tunnel of Love’…This indoor garden teased.
Inside, amongst the exuberant foliage; sculptural forms peeked out, subtly blurring the line between botanical curiosity and boudoir wink. Devotions to love, flirtation, lust, and longing created an immersive, sensory, and deliciously daring celebration of plant sexuality, pollination, and pleasure.
Plants, after all, have been performing elaborate seductions for millennia. Nature has always been at it. We a few raised eyebrows, some cheeky winks and some very close inspection of the planting scheme.
It certainly wasn’t just the Philodendron erubescens blushing!
From page to present:
What began as the concept of ‘The Theatre of Houseplants’ to introducing our muse Aphrodite to the design mix; throughout the whole process we had artist and illustrator David Titucci by our side, realising our vision. From initial concept impressions to creating illustrated elements to be physically displayed throughout the show space, David’s passion for his work shone through and brought the world of Aphrodite and Eros to life amongst the foliage.
Four Love Themes:
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![Lovehoney Presents: Aphrodite's Hothouse designed by James Whiting and Plants By There at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 - RHS Gold Medal winning glasshouse - Malvern Garden Buildings]()
Birth Of Desire
Our first stage showcased the well known story of the birth of Aphrodite; our muse and main character in our theatre of love story. Here houseplants with a coastal look came together with driftwood, shells, sand, airy drapes, a calico draped bed and a giant illuminated clam shell. Tillandsia moss, Spathiphyllum, Zantedeschia, Rhipsalis and Strelitzia all planted in a naturalistic style with Lovehoney products nestled in crevices in the rocks all alluded to the Birth of Desire.
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![Lovehoney Presents: Aphrodite's Hothouse designed by James Whiting and Plants By There at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 - RHS Gold Medal winning glasshouse - Malvern Garden Buildings]()
Flirtation & Temptation
Think first dates, butterflies in your stomach and the temptations of a first kiss…..A playground for the cheeky Eros! Our second act in our houseplant love story showcased two planted forms almost touching and a more organised but still natural planting style. Trailing varieties such as Philodendron reached towards each other and Hoyas tumbled over the edges. Anthuriums and Orchids in romantic shades of pink sat among the romantic swags, satin drapes and macrame hangers, whilst a pink glow emerges from the foliage; as did some playful and glass Lovehoney products.
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![Lovehoney Presents: Aphrodite's Hothouse designed by James Whiting and Plants By There at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 - RHS Gold Medal winning glasshouse - Malvern Garden Buildings]()
Lust & Union
Our third act is where things got really hot and steamy and became the climax of our hothouse story! Heavy velvet drapes spilled from all corners and an abundance of fiery flowering Bromeliads, Anthuriums and Nepenthes erupted from a bed of mosses below. Taking centre stage; the results of Aphrodite and Eros’s hard work - A suspended representation of Lust in the form of a plaited stemmed Pachira aquatica. We’ll leave the rest to your imagination!
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![Lovehoney Presents: Aphrodite's Hothouse designed by James Whiting and Plants By There at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026 - RHS Gold Medal winning glasshouse - Malvern Garden Buildings]()
Devotion & Immortality
The final act of our love story represented the idea of longevity and strength in love. Houseplants that are long lasting, timeless and verdant like Kentia Palm, Aglaonema, Asplenium and Aspidistra formed the bones of this display with stainless steel Lovehoney products taking centre stage. Clean vertical curtains in silver framed the scene as well as a seamless brushed steel bed structure providing a growing space for our immortal oasis.
Meet The Collaborators:
This year Plants By There teamed up with a very unexpected brand that caused quite a stir in the press and with RHS Chelsea visitors….Taboo, but in all the best ways!
U.K. based sexual wellness and pleasure retailer Lovehoney made Aphrodite’s Hothouse possible and enabled us to make houseplants even sexier in our very own steamy glasshouse. A first for both Lovehoney and the RHS, the topic of sex got all eyes on the Houseplant Studio area and helped draw even more people to this ever growing category.
Based in Bath, the expert team at Lovehoney championed our design fully from day one and embraced our creative vision as well as starting some really important and progressive conversations with gardeners and horticulturalists at the show around something so very natural to both humans and plants alike.
“You don’t expect to see a sexual wellness brand at RHS Chelsea Flower Show and that’s precisely the point. We believe sexual wellness is part of overall wellbeing and deserves a place in mainstream cultural conversations, so we wanted to show up somewhere unexpected.
“The Hothouse was designed to spark curiosity, challenge expectations and celebrate pleasure as something natural, playful and culturally relevant. If we want to change the conversation around sex and sexual wellness, we can’t keep having it in the same places.”
Jo Connarty, Global PR Lead at Lovehoney
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Lords Fragrance House
Lord Fragrance House curated fragrance moments that visitors could interact wifor each of our four themes; simply with the simple lift of a jar lid. By integrating clever motion activated scent diffusers into our design, we could transport people to the very heart of our design story and fully engage all of their senses in our evocative display. Explore Lords Fragrance House’s range of home scents here:
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Hangers & Macrame
No indoor garden display is complete without hanging plants and what better way to display them than in custom macrame hangers kindly designed and made by Mina at Hangers & Macrame! Mina worked to our briefs and created hangers that assisted us in telling our story and presented our plants in a fun an innovative way.
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Mighty Signs
Again this year, my good friend Jon at Mighty Signs helped me to bring elements of the studio to life with printed illustrations and window vinyls throughout the studio. They are experts in all things printing, signage and graphics and work on projects in South Wales and beyond. Get in touch with them here:
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Gavin McPhail
Talented mural artist Gavin McPhail has worked with us in previous years at RHS Chelsea and again, this year he elevated our design by adding a hand painted touch of fun and whimsy to the floors of our studio - Real theatre! Discover more of Gavin’s incredible work and follow him here:
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Audio Gold
My local friendly sound specialists Audio Gold helped to bring our immersive playlist to life! It wouldn’t be a real Hothouse without the sensuous moans of Donna Summer filling the space. You can pay this music lover’s mecca a visit in person or learn more about them here:
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Malvern Garden Buildings
Malvern Garden Buildings again gave designers of the Houseplant Studios at this year’s show the perfect spaces in which t to unleash their creativity. As the official sponsor of the area, they have been supporting my work for a number of years, and again supported our design by building an elevated greenhouse to really wow both us and visitors. You can discover their range of garden buildings here:
Stay up to date:
Explore more of Aphrodite’s Hothouse and our other RHS Show exhibits by following @plantsbythere or @jameswhitingdesign on Instagram.
