For five days the grounds of the Royal Hospital are transformed into RHS Chelsea Flower show. Sprawling over a massive 11 acres, the show promises to be a feast for the senses. Gardeners, growers and designers from around the world visit Chelsea to see fabulous show gardens, breath taking flowers and the latest trends for the home and garden.
Chelsea officially starts next Tuesday and runs through until Saturday. The recent wet weather hasn’t put visitors off; all 157,000 tickets from the RHS are sold out. Some tickets are now being sold online by ticket touts for up to £300! If you haven’t managed to get a ticket, follow the TV coverage which starts with a sneak preview on Sunday at 5pm on BBC One.
The Queen will visit the show on Monday to view the special exhibits designed for her Diamond Jubilee and new plants named after the Royal family. There will also be an exhibition of photographs of the Queen at Chelsea and a flower bed commissioned for the Jubilee.
There are 16 show gardens this year created by some of the world’s best designers. Andy Sturgeon is designing an arts & crafts garden for the show sponsors M&G Investments. Cleve West, who won Best Show Garden last year is designing a topiary based garden for Brewin Dolphin and Joe Swift is designing the Homebase Teenage Cancer Trust Garden. Chelsea is using QR technology (quick response) for the first time this year; the gardens will have a QR code allowing visitors to view further information on each garden. There will also be a QR code garden featuring a large QR created with clipped topiary planted in a vertical wall.
One of the new categories tipped for big things is Fresh, it challenges designers to come up with inventive and ground breaking designs, without the usual constraints of a show garden, the only limitation is plot size. Tony Heywood and Alison Condie, are the artists in residence for Chelsea 2012, they are creating a Fresh garden named Glamourlands: a Techno-Folly. The garden is an evolving piece first seen at Tatton Flower Show in 2010. It’s based on an abstract representation of the Dorset coast and it is covered in thousands of brightly coloured jewels.
Also new this year will be five Artisan Retreats, the small garden huts will be decorated by top designers to show the creative potential for small spaces. The retreats have been designed by VV Rouleaux founder Annabel Lewis, Nikki Tibble of Wild at Heart florist, Orla Kiely interiors and lifestyle designer, Vicki Conran interiors designers and textile artist Kaffe Fassett.
Chelsea also showcases the best of British floral design, hosting the Young florist of the Year competition and the final of the RHS Florist of the Year. The Great Pavilion will feature some exciting exhibits including a life size Formula One car made from topiary, a Monet inspired floral exhibit and Fencing displays by the British Olympic Fencing Team.