A dried flower florist from Norden in Dorset is heading to the prestigious RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the first time, as well as funghi growers Jurassic Coast Mushrooms.
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which attracts around 150,000 people every year, opens to visitors from Tuesday 19th to Saturday 23rd May 2026 at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London.
Catherine is styling a stand for The English Garden magazine at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year
Chance to show at the highest level
Catherine Ramm, who specialises in sustainable dried flower displays, will be showcasing her work in collaboration with gardening magazine The English Garden at the show.
Going to Chelsea Flower Show has long been an ambition for Catherine, who has built up her Dorset Dried Flowers business over several years from her workshop in Corfe Castle, before moving to Norden.
But as it falls at the start of the busy wedding season, Catherine had always been content to watch highlights of the show on television – until seeing coverage in 2025, when she thought that dried flowers were getting a raw deal.
It sparked her into looking for a collaboration at Chelsea and a chance to show off her dried flowers at the very highest level, alongside a brand whose values matched her own.
Catherine’s studio at Norden will be open throughout Purbeck Art Weeks 2026 for visitors to see how the magic is created
“Found myself shouting at the TV”
Catherine Ramm said:
“I love Chelsea – to anyone who loves flowers it is the best thing, but last year I found myself shouting at the television with some of their incorrect advice on dried flowers, and that made me think I really ought to be up there showing people how it’s done.
“At Chelsea, you can go down the route of entering the competition, have a trade stand where you can sell your pieces, or you can do what I have done and collaborate with a brand.
“I looked at the brands at Chelsea last year which aligned with my dried flowers business, and being very selective, I reached out to four of them to ask whether they would be interested in me styling their stand for them.
“I got an email back from a publication called The English Garden which completely aligns with my brand values, and I knew I could create something beautiful for their stand without taking away from the product.”
Catherine with some of her chickens and geese, at Norden Farm where she has a workshop
Hoping it will open doors
The stand has been designed to promote magazine subscriptions, with Catherine creating floral desk boxes, meadow style floor pieces and two larger wall displays designed to draw the eyes of passing visitors into the heart of the showcase.
As a dried flower specialist, Catherine said Chelsea is the perfect place to demonstrate the practical and sustainable benefits of her work.
Catherine also hopes her Chelsea debut will open doors to more collaborations with venues, brands and businesses interested in sustainable event styling.
She already works with local growers and businesses, including displays for The Scott Arms at Kingston, the Fox Inn at Corfe Castle, and many other venues across Dorset, as well as specialising in wedding displays.
Catherine’s studio, at Norden Farm, will be open to visitors throughout Purbeck Art Weeks from Saturday 23rd May 2026 to display how she turns dried flowers into works of art.
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show will be seen by millions of TV viewers on the BBC
“Tip top right the way through”
Catherine Ramm said:
“The great thing about having dried flowers at Chelsea is that these will look as good on the last day as they do on press day, and from a brand’s point of view that takes a huge amount of pressure off them.
“If you have fresh flowers on a stand at Chelsea, they will need to be refreshed during the week, but not so with dried flowers. The English Garden can just forget about the display, knowing that it will look tip top right the way through.
“I also wanted to create something that they could gift to subscribers or take back to the office because I know they feel as strongly as I do about sustainability, and these pieces will last for years and years.
“To be part of Chelsea is amazing, and it gives validation to my brides and other customers that my work is of a high standard, on par with big national companies.”
Part of the artwork for the sculpture featuring Jurassic Coast Mushrooms, which looks at similarities between forests and supercomputers
The Wood Wide Web
Jurassic Coast Mushrooms will also have a presence at the Chelsea Flower Show, as part of a sculpture which will be on display called Enmeshed: Positive Pathways.
The sculpture, built from reclaimed computer circuitry, lime-soaked hessian, native woodland flowers and living fungi, is a collaboration between Somerset botanical artist Dimitris Koutroumpas and floral designer Gaia Eros.
It draws a parallel between two networks, the human built internet and the underground mycelium that connects trees and other woodland plants to sustain ecosystems, dubbed the Wood Wide Web.
The final piece will also have a soundscape by biogenic composer Alex Duncan, nicknamed the Composer in the Woods.
Andy Knott of Jurassic Coast Mushrooms, part of a South West collaboration exhibit at Chelsea
“Delighted to be part of Chelsea”
Andy Knott, of Jurassic Coast Mushrooms, said:
““We spotted a post requesting native mushrooms in the middle of May on a mushroom Facebook group and knew immediately they were going to struggle at this time of year, so we offered our services at Jurassic Coast Mushrooms.
“While we can’t provide wild mushrooms in May, we could cultivate our native species and offer the next best thing! Gaia Eros got in touch with me, we immediately hit it off and were brought on board as collaborators for the piece.
“This is a very proud moment for us, not only as a business but as custodians of fungi. We’re passionate about preserving native UK species of mushroom for food and medicine and it’s great to share this with others.
“It’s great to be able to showcase our work at such a prestigious event as Chelsea Flower Show. We hope this helps the wider public to appreciate the beauty and relevance of these magnificent organisms, and to have a go at growing their own mushrooms.”
Andy Knott with one of his Jurassic Coast mushrooms at a recent workshop
Further information
- Discover more about Dorset Dried Flowers
- More about Chelsea Flower Show 2026
- Jurassic Coast Mushroom events are listed online
