RHS Shop Discount Codes July 2025

Should You Give an RHS Membership This Mother’s Day? A Practical Guide to Green Gifting

We tend to give the same gifts on Mother’s Day, year after year: flowers (which die), chocolates (gone by Monday), and the occasional voucher for a spa day that somehow never gets booked. Which is why the Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) gift membership is quietly compelling. For £65, you get a year’s worth of garden admissions, some thoughtful extras, and a surprising amount of beige paper packaging.

Now, this isn’t a subscription box with alarming amounts of pastel branding, nor is it another streaming add-on doomed to be forgotten by June. It’s something a little more solid. And, yes, a little more British. Whether it’s truly the right gift depends on what you want: a gesture, or a gentle nudge into a slower, greener lifestyle.

Let’s take a closer look.

What the RHS Actually Is

The RHS isn’t just the crew behind the Chelsea Flower Show - it’s also one of the UK’s oldest charitable organisations. Founded in 1804, its mission is to "enrich everyone’s life through plants," which sounds lovely, if slightly ambitious.

Membership to the RHS is essentially an access pass to its network of gardens and events. The four main gardens - Wisley, Hyde Hall, Rosemoor, and Harlow Carr - are sprawling, well-maintained, and very good at making your own garden feel quietly inadequate. Beyond those, there are over 200 partner gardens nationwide, many of which are equal parts beautiful and bafflingly difficult to find parking near.

Membership, Decoded

The standard individual membership costs £49, or £65 as a gift package, which includes a guest card, a tote bag, and the kind of biodegradable packaging that screams "we compost." Members get unlimited entry to the four main RHS gardens, and yes, guest access does mean Mum can bring someone along to admire herbaceous borders and mingle at plant-themed events.

Flower shows like Chelsea or Hampton Court come at a separate cost, but members do get early access to tickets and discounts. Which could be useful - Chelsea Flower Show tickets are known for selling out, and for prices that border on London theatre levels.

You also receive a monthly magazine, which is surprisingly well put together - more Monty Don than middle-of-the-night QVC. Expect in-depth advice, plant recommendations, and headlines like "Your Garden in April," instead of buzzy clickbait. And there’s access to the RHS’s extensive plant advice service, which is essentially horticultural tech support.

Discounts, Rewards, and Miscellaneous Cheer

If you hold a Tesco Bank credit card, each £4 spent at the RHS Shop earns you rewards points. It’s hardly an investment strategy, but it does mean a modest trickle of loyalty perks - if you’re the sort of person who keeps track of such things.

There are also seasonal deals - particularly during Black Friday - which is slightly surreal, given that the RHS aesthetic is more ‘cottage bloom’ than ‘e-commerce feeding frenzy.’ Still, up to 70% off on gardening tools and seeds is real, and perhaps more useful than the fifth smart speaker in your home.

The Gardens: A Legitimate Reason to Leave the House

Let’s be honest: digital perks are nice, but the real value here is physical. The RHS gardens themselves are the main draw. They are vast, beautifully kept, and varied enough that even the non-gardeners among us might appreciate an afternoon’s meander. Landscape photography is an unofficial perk, and yes - there are café options, all suspiciously heavy on the lemon drizzle cake.

There’s also the not-insignificant effect of being around so many plants. There’s a reason companies build mindfulness apps. Or, you could just stand quietly in a rose garden for ten minutes without anyone asking you to click "Accept Cookies."

Cultural Cachet and Curious Events

The RHS is nothing if not dependable. The Chelsea Flower Show attracts over 150,000 visitors each year, most of whom have mastered the art of navigating gravel paths in fitted blazers. Members get access to preview days, early-bird tickets, and plant sales that make eBay bidding wars look tame.

For anyone who enjoys a well-coordinated event - or just wants to see what all the fuss is about - events like Hampton Court or Tatton Park embody large-scale botanical theatre. There are talks, displays, and the occasional astonishingly expensive garden feature for sale. It’s part inspiration, part spectacle.

Education and the Long Game

The RHS isn’t just about flowers. It’s also an education and conservation charity, backing campaigns from school gardening programmemes to sustainable planting. If you want your annual outlay to support something more meaningful than fast fashion or monthly movie night, this membership at least gestures in that direction.

You won’t change the world by signing up. But a little more time spent outside, a little less time doomscrolling, and a few more plants in the ground? Not a bad start.

Should You Actually Gift This?

Here’s the bottom line. RHS membership isn’t flashy. It doesn’t come with streaming access, next-day delivery, or app integration. What it does offer is quiet, cumulative value: admission to beautiful places, a reason to get outside, and access to a community of people who think planting things is still worth the effort.

No, it won’t change your mum’s life overnight. But she might discover a new favourite garden, a love of dahlias, or just a better hydrangea feed. As gifts go, that’s not nothing.

And if she asks why you didn’t just get flowers? Well, you kind of did. They just happen to come with roots, a garden gate, and complimentary parking.

Pricing Overview:

• Standard Membership: £49/year
• Gift Membership: £65/year (includes tote bag, guest card, seed packets)

Key Benefits:

• Free access to RHS Gardens + 200 partner gardens
• Discounts on events, flower shows, and gardening supplies
• Monthly RHS magazine + plant advice service

Available from:RHS official site and selected retailers.

Verdict: Not for everyone, but for a certain kind of plant-curious, slow-living aspirant? Hard to beat - and infinitely more useful than another bath bomb set.

What you need to know