Taking place in May 2023, the countdown has begun to one of the world’s biggest horticultural celebrations. The Royal Horticultural Society’s (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show has been held at The Royal Hospital in Chelsea since 1913. With some of the same exhibitors from the very first show still taking part today.
The briefs given by garden sponsors can vary immensely, including notions such as “envisaging plenitude” or “recreating the garden of a stately home”, to displays exploring heavyweight thinking on everything from environmental issues to the more verdurous ways to examine the machinations of the mind. Different ideas are executed with varying amounts of character and inspiration, too.
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There are the big-hitters such as Cleve West, who’s previously won two “Best In Show” awards. And Diarmuid Gavin, sometimes billed as “the Damian Hirst of garden design”. But what with gardening being a British blood sport, there’s plenty of room for underdogs too. In 2015 a 52 year-old newcomer and nurse, Sean Murray from Newcastle upon Tyne, took up a spot on the much-coveted main avenue.
Squashed into an 11-acre site in the centre of a world capital, each designer must get his or her work approved by various committees of the RHS. To say nothing of swinging a sponsor to write out what must sometimes amount to a blank check for it all. And if a gardener hurdles those challenges, there’s still the small matter of managing their own building site, complete with safety regulations. None of this, however, stops contestants who truly adore the art of gardening.
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World famous for its fabulous floral displays, the Chelsea Flower Show is a must visit destination for all flower lovers. Renowned for innovative garden design and magnificent shopping, there is so much to see and do.
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