An Introduction to RHS Chelsea Flower Show

It’s the jewel in the Royal Horticultural Society’s crown and it’s run almost every summer for over a century. Learn why the Chelsea Flower Show is the largest and most celebrated horticultural event in the world.

Visit London during a certain week in May, and you’ll be there at the right time to visit what’s known as the Great Spring Show – the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show. This spectacular celebration of all things floral and growing is a staple of the British horticultural calendar.

It takes place in the scenic, historic grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year—including members of the British royal family! At this remarkable event, gardeners and plant lovers can see the best flowers and exhibitions, learn tips and tricks for their own gardens, and get an exclusive look at new products and tools.

The Best Of the Best

Every year, the finest gardeners enter their plants, vegetables, herbs, photography and floral arrangements to win prestigious awards. Thirteen special awards are on offer ever year, and judges also award medals in five categories:

Flora for floral exhibits and gardens
Hogg for trees
Knightian for herbs and vegetables
Lindley for educational or scientific contributions
Grenfell for celebrating pictures, photographs, and floristry

Medals come in four classes: gold, silver-gilt, silver and bronze. Winning a coveted RHS medal is an achievement that anyone can be proud of. Even the humblest of vegetables can be displayed in its most perfect shape and color, and perhaps be a winner. A simple parsnip can be elevated to a first prize art form!

Another big draw is the garden design category. You don’t even have to be a professional to throw your hat into the ring. Anyone can apply to build a garden, and if their idea is original, interesting and will spark conversation, their entry may be selected to go on display. Indoor or outdoor, rock garden or floral, from the fanciest and rarest plants, to the most common shrubs: everything is represented in this feast for the eyes. Visitors love to walk around these gardens and get inspiration for their own green spaces.

It is said that Queen Elizabeth II loves the show so much that she has only missed it twelve times. The Duchess of Cambridge seems to feel the same way: in 2019 she designed a community garden for the show.

Weird and Wonderful

If you’re wondering how anybody could get excited about plants year after year, consider this: the Chelsea Flower Show is famous for its special exhibitions, which showcase cutting-edge gardens and technologies. In 2011, Diarmuid Gavin presented his Irish Sky Garden, which is entirely suspended in the air. In 1993, Julie Toll won best garden for her seaside garden, which was planted on sand dunes instead of traditional soil. And in 2016, 50,000 people crocheted 300,000 poppies to create an amazing display that covered 2,000 square meters of the Royal Hospital Chelsea grounds. Every year, something new and incredible shocks and delights visitors.

The show is a great opportunity for plant breeders to launch new cultivars. People are always excited to see new colors of old favorites, or cultivars that might be hardier or more reliable in their own gardens. Historical garden buffs have also revived many older, heritage species with a display at the Chelsea Flower Show. There are fashions and trends in gardening as in anything else. You’d be surprised by how many gardening fashions are started at the Chelsea Flower Show. For example, in 1968 a huge display of hostas made them a suddenly-popular garden choice, even though previously they had been considered rather old-fashioned and boring.

Gardening With a Purpose

When given the opportunity to present a garden or exhibition at the Chelsea Flower Show, many people over the years have decided to spotlight an important social or ecological issue. Take, for instance, a 1967 entry which was called the first garden for disabled people. The Royal Horticultural Society themselves have tried to stay with the times, too, banning ecologically damaging products and making space for children, community organizations, people with disabilities and prisoners to create gardens.

Keeping Calm and Carrying On

In its whole 108-year history, this trailblazing show has been cancelled only four times: in 1917, 1918, and during the Second World War when the land was needed by the War Office. In 1947, the show came roaring back, a much-needed spot of beauty and national heritage. The success of the show even at the end of wartime should tell you a lot about how much people in Britain and internationally love this horticultural event.