The Royal Horticultural Society has detailed plans for a major new product launch at the 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show with its brand new licensing partner, Willsow and its collection of RHS Plantable Seed Paper Calendars and Plantable Christmas Crackers.
An award-winning team of product pioneers, Willsow was responsible for the launch of the industry’s first plantable children’s book, produced using special handmade paper which is embedded with hundreds of real vegetable and herb seeds to allow children to plant the pages and grow their own food.
Willsow’s primary goal is to inspire as many people as possible to get outside and get growing.
The RHS Plantable Calendars and Plantable Christmas Crackers range will contain a mixture of popular wildflower and cottage garden varieties suitable for both the avid and amateur gardener. The launch offering will consist of two Plantable Seed Paper Calendars and a box of six Plantable Christmas Crackers.
Packaging and artwork for the range will utilise RHS-supplied artwork inspired by the RHS Lindley Collections, the world’s finest collection of botanical art. Each product will also contain sowing, planting and growing advice from RHS horticultural experts.
After launch the range will be available to consumers online via Willsow’s own e-commerce shop, along with notonthehighstreet.com and Amazon. Physical retail will include garden centres, gift shops, book stores and card retailers across the UK. It will also appear at a variety of trade and consumer shows including Christmas markets such as Chatsworth House Christmas Market, as well as Spring Fair, Autumn Fair, Harrogate Home & Gift, and of course RHS Flower and Garden Shows.
Further additions to the product line are planned for later this year, including a plantable notebook.
There is also a prevalent sustainability element to this agreement. All of Willsow’s products are produced in Leicester at the Willday family printing business, a print house that has been going strong for 80 years, using 100% recycled paper, with vegetable and eco-UV-based fully biodegradable inks. Willsow is on a mission to make print as sustainable as it can be while looking at creative, innovative, and new ways to encourage people of all ages to start growing.
Tom Willday, founder of Willsow, said: “Like the RHS our aim is to educate children and adults alike that we can all do more for the environment – and to make it fun! We’re thrilled to be bringing our love of gardening and growing to this partnership with the UK’s favourite gardening charity.”
Cathy Snow, RHS licensing manager, added: “The Willsow range is not only fun and useful but supports our aim of encouraging everyone – of any age – to get into the garden to be in touch with nature again. [It] will be a highlight of the 2024 RHS Chelsea Flower Show where so many of our partners will again remind people of the breadth, depth and excellence of our licensing programme.”
