Chelsea Flower Show
The Chelsea Flower Show is a world renowned flower and garden show held in London every May. My knowledge of the Chelsea Flower Show was limited to knowing a little about the garden designs, gold medals, my mother mentioning it every year and also it taking over Gardener’s World tv show! I decided in 2022 that I would have to go and see it all in person and see what all the excitement is about. My youngest son with me and it was a trip together I’ll treasure forever and hopefully he will too.
The entrance way was designed by Worm London as commissioned by the RHS. According to Worm London they “chose the humble Allium as a metaphor for the beauty in every stage of life. Using bulbs, different varieties of allium flowers, dried allium seed heads, onions and deadstock fabric hand dyed in various onion skins we wanted to show what can be done when sustainability is at the forefront of design” (Words from their instagram).
The first thing that you really notice in Chelsea is the perfection! It really is the best of the best flower and exhibition wise. It’s aspirational! An indoor plant stand holder was telling me his morning routine of making sure all the plants on his stand were looking their best each day. Each plant was checked and shined, there was no room for sub standard. It’s an attention to detail that commands respect and it lifts the Chelsea Flower show to be the top level show it is.
Swiss chard perfection above. The image below is from a trade stand. As you can see the standards are so high.
Bearded Iris on display inside the hall.
Foxgloves were magnificent inside the hall. This display was very special. There was bees flying in and around the flowers not in the slightest bit bothered by all the people or the strange location (inside a building) of the plants. This was one of my favourite areas.
The incredible floral displays were seasonal, beautiful and inspirational.
The narcissus display inside the flower hall. How they manage to have them blooming at the end of May deserves a documentary. Again you can see the level of perfection and absolute pride that is taken in ever display.
David Austin stand
Absolutely loved this floral display. How we see flowers and how the pollinators see them.
The show gardens outside. They do seem a lot smaller than they appear on screen. I would love the have the luxury of actually walking around or sitting in them. Its very busy around the gardens and you really have to be patient to get a look. I was watching the Gardeners World special the evening before in the hotel so I knew the story behind some of the gardens which I found very helpful as it is quite hard to get a good look at them on the day as its very crowded around them. I’d suggest making a beeline for them as early as possible in the day if they are top of your list to see. I had the floral stands inside the marquee top of my list so that’s where I went first.
The Chelsea Flower show is one for the must see at least once list! Its expensive to visit, add in flights, hotels and food and it adds up. Food and drink is very expensive inside the show so bring water bottles and a food if you are on a budget (7gbp for two small diet coke cans to give you an idea). There was plenty to purchase there, everything floral related you can think of and of course I did buy some seeds. Joyfully the iris seeds I bought there two years ago began to flower yesterday! Another suggestion is to have a look at all the floral displays around Chelsea, so many shops and restaurants commission floral designers and artists to create installations outside their premises. There is no cost involved as they are all on the street. Also there are no reduced price tickets for children so its full adult eyewatering price in for them. It wouldn’t be the easiest place to bring younger children too with the crowds (especially around the show gardens) I am not going this year so I’ll have to enjoy it on you-tube instead, maybe next year I’ll go again. Enjoy every minute if you are lucky enough to be heading there this year.
All the best,
Maria