On the opening day of the 2025 Chelsea Flower Show, the Country Life team at SW3 sat down to discuss the best garden of the year. 'Oh, well, it has to be the Japanese Tea Garden,' were the first words out of the mouth of our garden editor, Tiffany Daneff.
It's not every year that we agree with the judges on our favourite garden at the world's greatest flower show. Quite the opposite, in fact: it's a semi-regular occurrence for our favourite designs to have been overlooked on the official criteria.
LISTEN: Tiffany Daneff on the Country Life Podcast from the Chelsea Flower Show
This time, we're all in agreement. Kazuyuki Ishihara's 'Cha No Niwa – Japanese Tea Garden' is like a slice of imperial Kyoto transplanted to leafy west London. There's a mix of elevations and depths, a mix of plants and trees — acers mingling with irises — and a blend of raked gravel, moss installation and craggy boulders, all framed by a traditional Japanese building at the rear.
Ishihara has created gardens at Chelsea several times in recent years, but so far they have always been among the smaller garden categories. In 2025 his sponsors — Ambius, Calmic Japan, HB-101 and Glion — have backed him to create one of the main show gardens at RHS Chelsea, and he has paid back their confidence in wonderful style with a design which makes use of Acer palmatum, Enkianthus perulatus, Iris, Sedum, Hornbeam and Pachysandra terminalis.
'It's perfect,' added Tiffany. 'Everywhere you stand, there's a perfect vignette; the view is framed.
'No matter which angle you look at it from, it feels as if it was meant to be seen from exactly where you are... If you're a photographer, it must be a complete heaven.'
It's not just the overall view that makes this garden special, though. 'You've still got this amazing attention to detail, the little hillocks of moss for example, and even round the back, there are gate entrances. all covered with vegetation,' Tiffany said.
'There's not a moment in this garden that's not been beautifully thought about. It's got water, it's so peaceful and lush, and still has flashes of colour with the irises.
'And then there's the Zen garden feel with the gravel that has been raked into circles. It's a tour de force. It's beautiful.'
Ishihara himself started his working life as a flower seller before setting up his company in 1995, but his love affair with traditional Japanese gardens goes back further than that. 'Forty-five years ago, when I first practiced Ikebana, I was deeply moved by the world of forms created with just three branches,' he told the RHS.
'Since then, my design style has been about recreating those unforgettable, nostalgic landscapes that people around the world have seen at some point in their lives, within a garden.'
To celebrate Country Life's return to the Chelsea Flower Show, we're offering up to 40% off subscriptions to Country Life Magazine. It's our best offer ever; available until June 30.
-
826 years of history, painstaking restoration and 'a garden like no other' at this former National Trust house which has come to the market in KentA blooming property in Kent showcases the original garden of England. Penny Churchill takes a look.
-
From Summertime to sphagnum: Country Life Quiz of the Day, June 25, 2025Wednesday's quiz ponders the last British woman to lift a trophy at Wimbledon.
-
'None of this would be here had the tithe barn not burned down that night’: How the terrifying destruction of a medieval landmark sparked the creation of the magnificent gardens of Bledlow ManorAfter inheriting the Bledlow Manor in 2018, Lord Carrington has been devoted to the thoughtful renewal and replanting of this historic Buckinghamshire garden. Tiffany Daneff reports, with photography by Clive Nichols.
-
'The whole house shook. Everything was white. For four months, it felt as if we were on Mars': The story behind one of Hampshire's most breathtaking gardensWhen Kim Wilkie sculpted a tiered grass amphitheatre behind this 17th-century house, the garden finally settled into place, as Non Morris discovers.
-
Myddleton House: The place that 'will help you learn what true gardening is' is open to everyone, and just 30 minutes from central LondonE. A. Bowles created a horticultural playground in the gardens of Myddleton House that was years ahead of its time, and continues to influence even today. Isabel Bannerman takes a look.
-
Wakehurst: 500 years of history, 2.4 billion seeds, 500 acres of planting, and scientists who might just save us allCharles Quest-Ritson takes a look at the amazing work that's been done to update Wakehurst, Kew's trailblazing outpost in Sussex.
-
A dozen slices of al fresco inspiration from the best designers in BritainAmelia Thorpe shares her pick of the most beautiful outdoor furniture and accessories to help you make the most of summer.
-
'Victorian magnificence skilfully simplified and distilled': A peek at the restoration of Somerleyton Hall gardensRecent works have retained the former theatrical splendours of these gardens near Lowestoft, Suffolk, finds Tilly Ware.
-
Alan Titchmarsh: I've tried every slug control known to man, and these are the only things that have ever worked for meAlan Titchmarsh is as charming, warming and friendly a man as anyone you'll ever meet. Unless, of course, you're a slug... in which case you'll awaken his ruthless side.
-
One of the most spectacular rose gardens in England has come in to bloom two weeks earlyIt's time to head to Mottisfont — come for the roses, stay for the fascinating exhibition shedding new light on the history of this beautiful Hampshire house.
