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From Chelsea to the British Library, garden shows are blooming

There’s fascinating tech at London’s garden shows – from a mini greenhouse that transported live plants to Victorian England to the arboreal equivalent of smartwatches

By Penny Sarchet

29 May 2025

GreenSTEM. Sainsbury Lab Cambridge University display at Chelsea Flower Show 2025. Credit J.Garget — GreenSTEM. Sainsbury Lab Cambridge University display at Chelsea Flower Show 2025.
J.Garget

If the only way you want to spend time away from your own garden right now is in places where you can look at and think about other gardens (preferably with some science thrown in), now’s the perfect time – in London, at least.

I enjoyed the newly relaunched science section at the , which ran from 20 to 24 May. The clunkily named “GreenSTEM” area had five small exhibits, with two of the most interesting being more agricultural than horticultural. There was a…

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