The Federation of British Bonsai Societies stand at Chelsea Flower Show 2026 was awarded a 12 point Gold Medal once again this year.

The team were very pleased that the exhibit came together so well despite the inclement weather that affected the Bonsai trees selected for display.

The team consisted of Russ Wheeler as lead, with Tim Back in charge of construction and pre-judging stand finishing quality. Nick Lloyd for the first time took on the role of online presence with the R.H.S., ensuring regulatory paperwork submitted on time and stand minding opportunities were allocated and personal security checks completed. Chris Durne oversaw the process and timings during the build and visitor week were on track and compliant.

The R.H.S. staging team let us rebuild their formwork and we ensured a level stand was presented, using the same materials as before, to save additional expenditure. Three large trees for the back row were damaged beyond use two days before set up by the weather and extreme hailstones. Fortunately Russ Wheeler had backup trees not planned for display that could be brought into play. This saved the day.

We made sure that as many Societies were represented as possible and offered the opportunity to work on the stand especially targeting those members who had not been to the show before. The following Societies took part:

We were very pleased that both Peter Fielding and Nigel Wright were able to travel to London and spend time on the stand for a day to represent F.o.B.B.S.

We used the QR codes on the stand so the public could link to the website and find societies that may be in their region to join.

Overall the team were very pleased that we were able to deliver the high quality stand that the R.H.S. expects and only one detriment for one tree. We used old signage with the second Latin tree name having an upper case letter rather than lower case letter. We used it rather than pay for a new batch of signs

Chris Durne for the Team
3rd June 2026