Ricky Paul’s Edgy Punk Rocker Delights Chelsea Flower Show

By Jill Brooke

Ricky Paul Punk Rocker at Chelsea Flower Show
Photo Credit: RHS – Ricky Paul Punk Rocker

Ricky Paul,  who is one of the most innovative florists on the planet, once again created an eye-popping pleaser for the Chelsea Flower Show festivities in London.

Paul is uber busy this time of year when the Chelsea Flower Show is in London showcasing the best in gardening. It is the most prestigious flower show in the world and in celebration, the surrounding towns of Chelsea adopts a theme and 70 stores create floral installations around the chosen theme. For 2025, it’s fashion. Thus you have the Chelsea Flower Show – where you have to get tickets – and Chelsea in Bloom where you just walk around and be enveloped in floral magic.

Ricky Paul didn’t create something staid and prim. Au contraire. The dervish of delphiniums, alliums and roses orchestrates a riot of color with every bloom. He says he decided to make  “Chelsea go punk.”

So his talented team created two floral Chelsea Punks – one at Codoghan Arms and the other at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Ricky Paul team
Photo: Ricky Paul Team – Hannah Collins,Hannah Calvert ,Hanisha Vanja. Ann Jackson,Charlotte Lowes. Jo Harper – Freelancers Paolo , Charlotte, Pippa, Lynn, Mita and Julie, Pollen Events

True talent just soars from everyone else. It is always a delight to see what he and his trusted team do and so glad that he has A-list clients clamoring for his vision and creations. Upcoming florists also are trained by someone with creativity and technical expertise.

These Chelsea Flower Show creations were inspired he says by the Sex Pistols and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. So clever that he pasted news articles of her on the skull. The jacket is made of preserved black-sprayed leaves and a Mohican made from pampas grass, palm leaves, anthurium, and more. Metalwork for this 2025 Punk Rocker was Julian Carter Design.

He’s calling this piece his “Floral Rebel.” We call it just brilliant. So does Tina Barkley of Fleurs de Villes fame. Her team  pioneered floral installations inspired by fashion. “It’s so him!!!” she says with admiration.

Enjoy his other  award winning works from previous shows and if you want a party to create sizzle and dazzle, he’s the guy. Boring he never is. Yet he always hits all the right notes with flowers that sing ballads and concertos.