Babylon Beats
RHS Cheslea Flower Show
Gold Medal & Best Houseplant Studio 2025
Plants By There x The Little Botanical
Babylon Beats is a contemporary interpretation of The Hanging Gardens of Babylon in a vibrant immersive and interactive display. Houseplants will envelope the structure, cascading down the walls, hanging from the roof and emerging from the ground and sprawling across an outdoor feasting table, laid in tribute to the five Babylonian gods of the earth, wind, sky, fire and sea.
At this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, visitors were invited to step inside the elemental shrine, where fire, earth, sea, wind and sky reign supreme. They also experienced the opportunity to pay tribute to Mother Nature at a sacred pool, then revel in a lavish feast to the gods.
‘Babylon Beats’ fused retro-futurism with ancient reverence for cosmic deities and the origins of ornamental plants.
Meet My Collaborators:
This year Plants By There teamed up with U.K. based houseplant growers and retailers The Little Botanical. So for the first time ever, I created my RHS Chelsea Flower Show indoor garden using houseplants predominantly grown right here in Britain!
Based in Chichester, the team at The Little Botanical has one main mission - “To inspire more people to make plants part of their every day lives. We love plants, and we want to show you how easy it is to bring plants into your home.”
You won’t see only beautiful houseplants provided by The Little Botanical on my exhibit; we have also worked together to design a new collection of ceramic plant pots that will be a dominant feature inside “Babylon Beats”.
”Designing the ‘Babylon Beats’ Houseplant Studio in collaboration with The Little Botanical has been an incredibly exciting and creatively fulfilling journey. It’s not every day that you get to bring to life an immersive indoor garden concept that blends bold design with the beauty and wellbeing benefits of nature. What makes this project even more special is our shared commitment to sustainability - we’ve carefully selected plants that are responsibly and locally grown right here in the U.K. by The Little Botanical, which really adds another layer of meaning and integrity to the space. To be showcasing this creation at such a prestigious event as RHS Chelsea is both an honour and a huge thrill for the entire team. We’re genuinely looking forward to unveiling the final result and sharing our passion for design and greenery with everyone at the show!"
Plants By There, James Whiting
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Audio Gold
My local friendly sound specialists Audio Gold helped to bring a touch of the 80’s to ‘Babylon Beats’ at Chelsea this year! Pay this music lover’s mecca a visit or learn more about them here:
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Lords Fragrance House
Lord Fragrance House infused the space with scent of nature so that visitors to ‘Babylon Beats’ could fully immerse themselves in the botanical world we created! This U.K based brand shares my love of colour and luxurious scentscaping and will really brought the essence of Babylon to life. Explore their range of home fragrances here:
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Haws
Loved by professional, passionate and hobby gardeners around the world; Haws make watering cans for life! ‘Babylon Beats’ featured an unexpected bespoke installation, handcrafted by them right here in the U.K. Find out more about Haws Watering Cans here:
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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 designs. 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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Malvern Garden Buildings
Malvern Garden Buildings again gave designers of the Houseplant Studios at this year’s show the perfect space to unleash their creativity. As the official sponsor of the area, they have been supporting me and my displays for a number of years. I’ve had the pleasure of working with them three times before at RHS Chelsea, so I felt certain that my 2025 indoor garden would be as incredible as the previous spaces! Explore their range of buildings here:
A Word From My Sponsor:
“At Findmypast we know family historians are also keen gardeners; our RHS sponsorship with James provided us with the perfect opportunity to reach those audiences in a meaningful way. The 1970s nostalgia theme of the 'Verdant Visions' exhibition aligned nicely with our brand and product, allowing us to showcase our rich newspaper archive within James' imaginative houseplant studio. James was a pleasure to work with, understanding our objectives and acting as an enthusiastic brand advocate for Findmypast throughout. His passion and expertise for plants is clear – that’s why he’s won multiple gold medals. We’ve also gained valuable insights from this sponsorship that we will take forward as we continue to build the Findmypast brand."
Helen Kaye - Director of Brand, Findmypast
Stay up to date:
To stay up-to-date with our RHS Chelsea build, follow along @plantsbythere or @thelittlebotanical on Instagram.
