A family-run plant nursery has excelled at the 2025 RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Bowdens Hostas, based in Sticklepath, attended the flower show for the 21st year and scored a prestigious gold medal for their luxuriant display.

Alongside the gold, they won the RHS Cultural Certificate for their specimen of Hosta ‘First Blush’.

Felicity Penrose and her mother Ruth Penrose built an amazing spectacle of perfect hostas which filled the RHS judges with delight.

Felicity is the granddaughter of the original founders of Sticklepath (now Bowden) Hostas, Ann and Roger Bowden. Ruth is Ann and Roger’s daughter.

Felicity hosted the Gala Preview Night which was attended by His Majesty The King and then all the way through the following week she took hundreds of orders for hostas, ferns and Garlic Spray.

Bowden Hostas have been in Sticklepath since 1986 and in its maturity it looks magnificent with over 500 hosta specimens.

A fernery was added in 2010 and the nursery welcomes visitors free of charge from Monday to Friday.

Bowdens have displayed continually at Chelsea Flower Show since 1996 in the Grand Floral Marquee, and have won over 40 gold medal awards from all the major flower shows in the country.

In early 2023, Felicity sat on a press conference panel in London launching the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, talking about the future of horticulture for young people.

Two years before that Felicity masterminded the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Routemaster bus display in September 2021, being responsible for logistics, planning and publicity material.

The organisation have worked with hostas for over 30 years and are acknowledged as a leading hosta nursery in the United Kingdom.

From 2007 to 2015, Bowdens held a Royal Warrant for the supply of hostas to HRH The Prince of Wales.

The gardens near Okehampton host experts in ferns, bamboo, agapanthus and hostas.