News
News
Introducing Associate Sponsor of Wild!: Hillier
We are delighted to be sponsoring the Winchester Cathedral Flower Festival. The Cathedral embodies heritage, quality, and tradition — values at the heart of Hillier. Supporting this magnificent event allows us to celebrate the beauty of flowers in iconic Winchester, where Hillier began.George Hillier, Chairman of Hillier Nurseries
About Hillier
Driven by our mission: “To inspire the creation of green living spaces for now and the future”
Hillier is one of the leading names in the horticultural industry, with 160 years of growing and retail experience.
Founded in 1864 by Edwin Hillier, the company remains a family-run nursery with the fifth generation now actively involved in the family business as it continues to grow.
Not only is Hillier the largest producer of semi-mature trees in Europe and grower of over one million plants at its Hampshire nursery, but it also employs over 750 staff across its nursery, amenity trees and 22 garden centre divisions and is a flourishing multi-million-pound company. It proudly holds the world record for the most consecutive gold medals awards at the world-famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show, with 74 wins.
As one of the leading growers in the UK, Hillier is involved in many peat-free initiatives, including the RHS Peat-Free Fellowship, the largest peat-free collaborative research project globally. The company was amongst the first nurseries to become 100% peat-free across both its production nursery and retail garden centres, and all Hillier plants are grown in peat-free compost.
Recent successes for the company include the launch of its online shop, the substantial redevelopment of Hillier Garden Centre Newbury and the acquisition of the Rosebourne Garden Centre Group in November 2022, as well as sponsorship of BBC Gardeners’ World Live and BBC Gardeners’ World Spring Fair, and the incredibly popular free ‘Hillier Gardening Club’ loyalty program which now has over half a million members.
Renowned for being a leading breeder of plants in the UK at its 100% peat-free nursery in Hampshire, each year Hillier introduces amazing new varieties. Many of these have become essentials in British gardens and the company continues with the tradition of innovation and the introduction of new garden plants in the present day.
Wild! Is a fundraising event for Winchester cathedral, a landmark event in the cathedral calendar and we wish to thank all our sponsors and patrons.