Peter Dowdall: Billy Alexander to go for Kerry gold at RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Irish Examiner

03-05-2025

THERE'S a quiet revolution underway in our gardens. It's not loud or showy, it doesn't demand attention with vivid blooms or heady scent. But step into any shaded corner where the soil stays cool and damp, and you may notice it, the unmistakable unfurling of a fern frond, coiled like the head of a violin, emerging with all the grace of a botanical ballet dancer taking the stage.
Ferns are living fossils from a time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. And they've remained relevant, adaptable, and profoundly beautiful. Perhaps you've overlooked them in the past, we are all prone to not putting enough value on that which is freely available all around us but there's never been a better time to fall in love with ferns, as this May, ferns are stepping back into the limelight quite literally, with Ireland's own Billy Alexander returning to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London with what promises to be his most ambitious display yet. If ever there was a moment to shine a spotlight on these ancient wonders, this is it.
Billy Alexander of Kells Bay Gardens in Co Kerry is no stranger to acclaim. In 2023, he achieved gold medal standard and the coveted 'Best Exhibit in the Great Pavilion' award. He also earned a gold in 2021, when senior RHS Judge Jon Wheatley declared his display 'probably the most outstanding exhibit of ferns I have ever seen at any Chelsea show" and said of Billy: "He is a credit to his country.'
Now, in 2025, Billy returns to Chelsea with his sights set firmly on a third gold medal. The exhibit, titled 'Wilde Kells Bay', supported by Wilde Aparthotels, will feature over 100 species of ferns artfully arranged in a 120-metre display of woodland, bog garden, and still water pool.
Billy Alexander, Kells Bay Gardens.
Rocks and mosses from Kells Bay itself will anchor the design, creating a piece of Kerry transplanted to the heart of London. Billy's preparation has been meticulous. 'I knew from the moment I left Chelsea back in May 2023 that I would be coming back,' says Billy.
'The planning began as soon as I returned home. We opened a new plant centre at the gardens and even installed a heater to keep our ferns cosy and evergreen during the winter months.' That attention to detail speaks not just to his passion, but to the care ferns require to truly thrive and reward.
Whether it's the architectural form of the shuttlecock fern, the evergreen presence of soft shield fern, or the coppery new growth of Japanese painted ferns, they offer more variety than many realise. You can use them to line paths, underplant shrubs, frame water features, or soften hard edges. In woodland settings, they feel like they've always belonged.
Billy's fern collection is among the largest private collections in Europe, with specimens gathered from the Pacific Islands, Vietnam, Indonesia and beyond. Some have even found their way into the royal gardens of Highgrove House, the private residence of King Charles III.
At Kells Bay Gardens, a true jewel on the Ring of Kerry, these plants find their perfect home. Sheltered by the bay and basking in a naturally temperate microclimate, the gardens stretch across seventeen hectares of sub-tropical paradise. The tree ferns alone, many of which date to the 19th century, are a marvel. And now, thanks to a newly opened plant centre, rare and exotic ferns are being propagated for sale, allowing gardeners to bring a piece of this legacy home.
The theme of this year's Chelsea Flower Show is one of resilience and sanctuary, how gardens can help us create a better future. Ferns, with their ancient adaptability and low-maintenance grace, embody that idea perfectly. They require little once established, thrive without fuss, and ask only for the cool shade and a little moisture. In return, they offer calm.
Ferns are living fossils from a time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and they've remained relevant, adaptable, and profoundly beautiful, says Peter Dowdall. File picture
They're also crucial for biodiversity. Having co-existed and adapted over millennia with local insects, fungi and bacteria, ferns provide shelter for insects, texture for birds to nest within, and cooling for the soil beneath.
They work just as well in containers, giving urban gardeners a chance to build micro-woodlands on balconies and patios.
And perhaps, in their quiet way, they remind us of something we forget too easily, that beauty in the garden doesn't have to be fleeting or flamboyant. It can be steady, grounded, and ancient, just like the ferns.
Billy's 2025 display, Wilde Kells Bay, promises to be not just a horticultural spectacle but a statement. That ferns matter. That Irish gardens are world-class. To see a plantsperson from Kerry standing shoulder to shoulder with the world's finest garden designers, championing a group of plants once considered background filler, that is something to be celebrated.
So as you walk through your own garden this week, look again at that shaded spot beneath the hedge or under the tree. Imagine it filled with the soft, feathery green of a fern and know that in doing so, you're part of a quiet, global revival. Ferns are back, but the truth is, they never really left.