RHS Chelsea Flower Show
At the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025, we created Blooming Numbers, an interactive exhibit exploring cutting-edge plant science research from across our institute through the lens of the flower.
Awarded a RHS Chelsea Flower Show Silver-Gilt Medal, the exhibit invited visitors to explore flowers up close using microscopes, including a scanning electron microscope, 3D printed models, computater simulations and modelling, biosensors, genetics and an interactive computer game exploring the role of gene networks in plant evolution.
Sainsbury Laboratory scientist Terice Kelly talking to exhibit visitors about flower development at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025.
Blooming Numbers
At the Sainsbury Laboratory we’re fascinated by the dynamic systems that drive plant growth and development.
Plant research isn’t simple, it’s a puzzle starting with the tiniest molecules to whole plant populations spanning forests and fields.
Why flowers?
Flowers are more than just beautiful. Their colours, shapes and patterns have evolved to attract pollinators, protect vulnerable pollen and even help to distribute their seeds.
Blooming Numbers was an interactive exhibit that highlighted the latest discoveries in plant science research by tracing a flower from its beginning as a single cell to a fully developed flower, exploring its evolutionary adaptations that enhance pollination, seed dispersal, and ultimately, its survival.
The exhibit also explained how we take a quantitative approach to how we study plants by combining experiments with computational modelling.
Blooming Numbers digital tour
If you missed Chelsea, explore the Blooming Numbers exhibit through our digital tour.
Blooming Numbers: The Sainsbury Laboratory exhibit in the GreenSTEM section at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025. Photo by Jacqueline Garget.
Thank you to our Partners and Sponsors
The Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge: Blooming Numbers exhibit was made possible thanks to our partnership with Oakington Garden Centre, Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge and Darwin Nurseries.
We are incredibly grateful for generous support of The Gatsby Charitable Foundation core funding, and sponsorship of our exhibit from Leica Microsystems and Strulch.
Partners
Sponsors
The Pollinator Patch
Oakington Garden Centre created a pollinator-friendly garden for our Blooming Numbers exhibit at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025, showing how even small spaces can provide insects with food, shelter, nesting habitats and safe water sources year-round.