I accidentally designed a Chelsea finalist!

It’s 5:37am on 14th February 2026. Instead of sleeping, I’m trawling the internet taking screenshots of plants to draw.

My mum had died 3 days earlier. And in the aftermath of a death I guess different people do different things. Having spent a couple of days staring into space mostly, I had zero motivation for anything. I didn’t want to talk, or work, or reply to all the messages, or do anything other than just be. Except for some reason I felt like drawing. ✍🏼

Amongst every craft under the sun, Mum used to draw, a lot. Some of her finest (and funniest) works were Michael Jackson through the years, Lady Diana who she adored, and I’m pretty sure she also drew Richard and Judy 😂 (4 months on I’ve yet to go hunting for evidence to show you, but I’ll get around to it).

I’ve never been much of an artist in the drawing sense, but I do love drawing plants. It’s something I can get lost in without needing to think while I do it - except think about what I’m doing of course!

So over the course of the next few days I designed 5 plants in my biggest binge ever. I chose the Aglaonema Pictum Tricolor, Boston Fern, Caladium Mint Flash, one I can’t tell you about yet, and the Anthurium Michelle. Why I chose the others is a story for another blog, but for now I’d like to tell you more about the Anthurium Michelle. 🪴

I’ve already designed a number of Anthuriums: Clarinervium, Warocqueanum, Crystallinum, Crystal Hope, Regale, and Delta Force. You can probably tell I like them - it’s the dramatic veins for me, they just get you - and the shapes, I love the different shapes.

So with my screenshots gathered, off into my own world I go - armed with my iPad and Apple Pencil. I went through my usual cycle of illustrating the leaves, testing out colours and sizes and making prototypes until I was happy with the result. ☺️

I wanted to create one that shows off the different colours you see as a new Anthurium leaf develops. The Michelle was on my radar, but I’d never studied it like I do when I’m searching for a new plant to design. The colour cycle is fascinating. I could see images showing a beautiful deep green, others a red wine type colour, and some almost black. That’s the one.

The Anthurium Michelle was bred by Dr. Jeff Block (aka Doc Block) who is a renowned (and I mean renowned) American breeder of Anthuriums.

Fun fact… Doc Block got his name not from anything to do with plants, but from his medical background as an anaesthesiologist and pain management physician. He earned the nickname because his pain management specialty frequently involved performing regional nerve blocks.

The plant itself is named after his wife. It won Best New Flowering Plant at the 2022 Tropical Plant International Expo and more recently was a finalist at Chelsea for Plant of the Year. 🏅

Chelsea you say? That’s huge! 🎉

When most people think of RHS Chelsea Flower Show they think of flowers - I mean… the clue’s in the name there isn’t it! But, as the years go on, we are starting to see more focus on houseplants - which is just glorious for all of us folks in the houseplant world. 🪴👏

Back in 2024 there was an incredible exhibit that filled my Instagram feed called Hope After Humanity. Designed by Gemma Haigh of The Plant Parlour in collaboration with rare plant specialists GrowTropicals, the exhibit was set in the year 2099, portraying a world where the worst fears of climate change have been realised. It won a prestigious Silver-Gilt medal in the Houseplant Studios category. It really stood out to me that year, that things were changing at Chelsea - at least from an onlookers perspective anyway (I’ve never actually been but promising myself next year 👀).

And this year, in 2026 we finally saw a foliage focussed plant shortlisted for Plant of the year - incredible! Grow Tropicals announced their submission at the end of April. They said…

“This shortlist is especially meaningful to us. The RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year Award celebrates outstanding new or improved plants that push the boundaries of horticulture. We've always believed houseplants, especially foliage houseplants, deserve to be up there fighting alongside the garden plants for recognition at shows like the Chelsea Flower Show.”

This is incredible news for Grow Tropicals, Doc Block, and the houseplant world - and I wish I’d have gone to Chelsea this year to see it. I also wish I had been able to make the evening with Doc Block hosted by Grow Tropicals. Had I gone, I would have marched up to them both and given them a little paper version of the Michelle to say thank you. But alas, I watched it on YouTube - with serious FOMO. 😭

Now for anyone with a Marketing background you’d think this timing of Chelsea and the Michelle would be a prime chance for me to shout from the rooftops that “I’d designed a paper version of a Chelsea finalist” - and you’d probably be right there. 🙈

But here’s the thing…

I keep my designs a secret for the Paper Plant Club (we call it the Jungle Club) and I didn’t want to ruin the surprise! 🤫

Now this might seem a bit silly, and I’m sure it’s not the end of the world if once I share a plant ahead of time - but I just know that lots of my customers love the surprise when it comes through their door, so I didn’t want to ruin that. So I’ve been watching on, enjoying, and celebrating it’s success from the sidelines.

Last week I packed all this months boxes up, with the Michelle safely inside for everyone in the Club to make. While I was packing I was thinking about what a shame it was that I didn’t get to that event to give Grow Tropicals and Doc Block their mini versions. I would have loved to have done that. So I messaged them both and asked if I could send them one. 🪴🚛📦

The Grow Tropicals team loved theirs, and sent me this gorgeous picture - of a Michelle with a Michelle. These are my favourite type of pictures when you have a plant with it’s plant! I don’t have a Michelle (yet) so I had been unable to take one.

Now, when they announced their submission on Michelle at Chelsea, Grow Tropicals also announced that they will be the UK’s official supplier of DocBlock® plants for 2026 and beyond - including the Michelle. 🥳 They were kind enough to give me a discount code for anyone wanting their own one of these beauties - so if you’d like one, you can pre-order here and use code NICOLESJUNGLE for £6 off. 🌿

Onto Doc Block…

I wasn’t sure if he would see my message to be honest, but he did and replied with such kindness and as always, education. I’d sent some pictures for him to see and aside from being very complimentary, he helped me with a little tip on leaf placement.

In my design, I’d arranged it with one of the green leaves near to the top. He advised:

“Here is a tip detail for you: The newest top-central leaf is in a notable order of appearance than then continue to mature by passing through other colors. The newest leaf is that red wine color; the mid-level maturing leaves evolve to nearly black; and the lower-level oldest leaves fully mature to green.”

I’m on it! 🏃‍♀️💨🍃

I made a new version with the adjusted leaf placement that afternoon and got it packaged up. At the time of writing it’s currently at a sorting office in New York before heading down to him in Miami. ✈️☀️

Before...

After...

Also in his message he shared this incredible picture of him amongst an off-the-chart display of Anthuriums. I had to share it! 😍

Jungle Club boxes start landing today, so I now need to share this tip with the Club before they start making, some of them are same-day makers so that’s my very next job so I get to them first! ✂️🪴

You’ll be able to see the finished makes from the Club in the Gallery from the end of July. And do come and join me on Insta for a bit of behind the scenes of packing up, sending, and sharing this months make with everyone. ❤️