RHS Garden Wisley’s houseplant exhibition is kooky and wry: an elaborate conceit. A Victorian house has been abandoned to the houseplants which, in the absence of humans, have made themselves at home.
An abundance of greenery may convey a derelict feel as visitors enter, but it soon becomes clear that everything is carefully arranged and tended. We’re visiting the best-behaved invasive houseplants in the history of mankind. My own ‘triffid’ is much less mannerly.
Soil that falls on the floor adopts an elaborate swirl pattern. Where plants spill (i.e. everywhere), they spill artfully. Visitors should prepare to see Instagram-ready vignettes wherever they lay their eyes.
Cacti have been repurposed as chess pieces and a pair of variegated Swiss cheese plants (Monstera deliciosa ‘Variegata’) are engaged in a game. A giant staghorn fern (Platycerium bifurcatum) is taking a bath while a plant pours down from a shower head. Vines are climbing bark-mulched stairs.
When we’ve heard experts talk about garden rooms, this was not what they meant.
There isn’t much cooking going on in the kitchen, which is liberally loaded with moss, hanging vegetation and insect-eating plants in a nod to the carnivorous lifestyles of many of us.
On the dining table, more carnivorous plants are set out in a silver tea pot, sugar bowl and milk jug on a tea tray. The feast includes a cake stand full of throat-threatening cupcakes.
Sitting at the table has become equally challenging for a human.
Victorian antiques add period character, such as this wooden board. I haven’t a clue what it is, as with most of the houseplants, but it looks great.
And there’s the point. I’m not confident that my lifestyle suits houseplants and, even if it did, I tend not to find them exciting. I do own a few, but none of them thrill me: some worry me; others make me feel guilty if I leave them for long. Despite all this, I found the exhibition fascinating, so much so that having gone round once, with a whole garden to see, we turned right round and went back in again.
Plants of all shapes, colours and sizes poke out, cover, cascade, lean, explore, creep and grow tall: this string-of-pearls plant (Senecio) appealed to me. I’m sure almost every visitor will see something they desire in this indoor garden folly, even those of us who find that gardening outdoors comes more easily.
For The Giant Houseplant Takeover exhibition is not just entertainment, but has a practical purpose. Sales of houseplants at Wisley’s plant centre have been soaring and the team want to maintain the momentum by encouraging us to loosen up our ideas when we choose containers for our houseplants, and inspiring us to grow more of them. Come to think of it, I do have a pair of shoes that has seen better days…
It all reminded me of seeing Little Shop of Horrors at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester some years ago where the baddie was a new breed of blood-eating plant, Audrey Two (has anyone seen their interpretation of Wuthering Heights yet?) Some events and exhibitions have an ability to live on in our imaginations though individuality of spirit and excess. I suspect this is one of them.
Information About The Giant Houseplant Takeover
Dates: the exhibition is on in the glasshouse at RHS Garden Wisley and runs through to 1st March 2020. Please double check details online or on social media before travelling, especially if the weather threatens to be bad. The garden had to close for Storm Ciara the day after our visit.
Prices: normal garden admission applies which means it’s free for RHS members. Non members can book online ahead of time for a 10% discount.
Hours: the garden opens at 9.30, the exhibition at 10; last entry to the exhibition is 3.45. Pre-booking a slot is recommended, although we didn’t.
For more information, visit the RHS website.
Susan Rushton 
What a fantastic exhibit—thought-provoking, haunting, and beautiful! I would have gone around again, too. I bet there is no way you could see everything the first time around. Probably not the second time around, either. Thanks for sharing this!
It was better than I’d hoped for, with six rooms to explore and quite Dickensian, as Eliza has suggested.
It’s a nice idea but it looks to stage managed for me.
It is ordered disorder, that’s for sure! The RHS has the resources to do things well and the brand demands it. If it really was abandoned, even just for a few months, the effect would be very different.
This is brilliant, hilarious, witty, and certainly solves the mystery of the “abandoned” copper pans. I think my favorites are the bromeliad quilt and the cactus petit fours. I have to think that the people who put this together had a roaring good time, prickles notwithstanding. Thank you so much for posting this — I am in need of ideas!
I’d bet they had a roaring good time too. I’m not so sure about notwithstanding prickles. Prickles always demand attention is paid to them. My hand bears a nastly reminder of tangling with Mum’s roses yesterday, as always happens when I venture close.
Oh, dear. Well, yes, there are prickles and then there are stabs. There are times roses seem carnivorous. Your poor hand!
Love this! Oh to be in England to see this in person.
You would need your waterproofs in some parts of the country at the moment, sadly.
Thank you for taking the time to share these photos and your experience. I enjoyed seeing a different part of the world and their creativity using plants!
I’m glad you liked it. Thanks for your encouragement.
What brilliant fun. I too tend to be unengaged by houseplants, but this could change me.
I don’t know if your duties would allow time for this, but you’re within striking distance of it, aren’t you? It’s not particularly easy to access by public transport, unless I’m missing a trick. We thought about walking from West Byfleet station, but decided to save our energy for exploring the garden. I’d like to think that the RHS will address this at some stage as part of their environmental policies.
Ah, I’ve just seen this and am now back home. Maybe another time then …
It looks almost post-apocalyptic!
I’d be happy if I felt sure a post-apocalyptic world would be so green.
This is such fun and so witty, I love it. Thanks for sharing.
My pleasure!
I think you should get out of there before it’s too late!
Scooby Doo sound effects are needed here: ruh roh – yikes!
Imaginative and fun exhibit. I kept thinking, “If Miss Havisham had plants…” 😉
Now, that would be creepy.