Chelsea Flower Show
Encyclopedia
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the Great Spring Show, is a garden
show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural Society
(RHS) in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
in Chelsea, London
. The show is the most famous flower show in the United Kingdom, perhaps the world attracting visitors from all over the world.
Highlights to the Chelsea Flower Show include the avant-garde show gardens designed by leading names with Floral Marquee at the centrepiece. The Show also features smaller garden such as the Artisan and Urban Gardens.
, which had a recorded history dating back to 1307 and which were said to date from the time of the Knights Templar
. The roses for which these Temple Gardens were famous were alluded to in Shakespeare's Henry VI Part 1. Using two marquees requisitioned from the old Kensington shows the 1888 show was a success with exhibits from both amateurs and commercial firms. By 1897 five marquees were being used with many of the best known plant and seed merchants being attracted to the event including Suttons and Sons.
In 1912, the Temple Show was cancelled to make way for the Royal International Horticultural Exhibition. Sir Harry Veitch
, the great nurseryman, secured the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, for this one-off event. It proved such a good site for an exhibition that the Great Spring Show was moved there in 1913, where it has taken place almost every year since.
The RHS first became involved with the Chelsea Hospital in 1905. Three years before, it had leased the grounds of Holland House in Kensington to hold what was first advertised as a Coronation Rose Show, but which turned into a more general show (with not many roses) by the time it actually opened in June. Two further two-day summer shows took place at Holland House in 1903 and 1904, but then, to the general satisfaction of exhibitors and press, a three-day Summer Show was staged in the Hospital grounds, a more spacious site than Holland House had allowed, with room for five tents. The Summer Shows reverted to Holland House for the years thereafter, except in 1911, when both it and Chelsea proved unavailable, and the Show was held at the Olympia exhibition hall.
The Royal International Horticultural Exhibition of 1912 demonstrated, at a time when the complaints from the Temple were increasing annually, what an excellent site for a show the grounds of the Chelsea Hospital provided. Accordingly, for 1913, the Great Spring Show was moved there, while the Summer Show reverted to Holland House. Despite the First World War, the show was held 1914 – 1916, but was cancelled in 1917 and 1918.
By the roaring 1920s, the Chelsea Flower Show was back in full swing, the famous Chelsea tea parties were established and Royal visits resumed. In 1926 the show was held a week late due to the General Strike.
In 1937, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth celebrated their Coronation Year, and to mark the occasion, a superb Empire Exhibition was staged. It featured wattles from Australia, pines from Canada, brilliant gladioli from East Africa and even a big prickly pear from Palestine.
The show was cancelled during the Second World War, as the land was required by the War Office for an anti-aircraft site. Some doubt arose as to whether the show would resume in 1947. The majority of exhibitors wanted a postponement, as stocks of plants were low, staff much depleted and fuel for greenhouses was obtainable only with special permits, but Lord Aberconway (then RHS President) and the RHS Council felt strongly that the show should resume as soon as possible. As it turned out, the show went ahead in 1947 and it was a great success.
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 was a sufficient cause for a flower show that reflected the celebratory mood of the country. Most members of the Royal family attended that year. Unfortunately, due to other commitments, the only Royal unable to attend was the Queen herself.
And the Show went on to increase in popularity throughout the second half of the century – until its popularity became its major problem. Crowding within the tents had been a recurring refrain during the interwar years, but always mastered by increasing the tentage; photographs show heavy crowds in the open, especially in the vicinity of the rock gardens. As the 1970s progressed, the attendance at the Chelsea Show climbed, by as much as 6,000 visitors in a single year (1978). In 1979, crowding became so severe in the mornings that the turnstiles were temporarily closed, and it was clear that some emergency action was needed. It was decided to open the Show at 8 am next year, and close it at 8.30 in the evenings, with a reduced price
for entry after 4 pm, to try to draw people away from the morning time-slot; and a one-way system was laid out in the marquee (an expedient that had been rejected as impracticable 20 years earlier). The arrangements worked better than expected in 1980, when a bare majority of Council voted for the imposition of a ceiling on the number of tickets sold. But numbers continued to increase, and in 1987 the turnstiles were closed again. In 1988 a limit of 40,000 visitors per day was imposed – a reduction of 90,000 in total from the previous year – and members were charged for tickets for the first time. An immediate response was a fall in attendance; by April, ticket booking was so slow that national advertisements were taken out to encourage people to come to Chelsea, and the original announcement that tickets would not be available at the gates was rescinded. 1988 was also the first year that ticket touts made their presence felt, and the RHS felt the frustration of seeing its tickets sold at a considerable mark-up without being able to do anything.
An alarmed Council now began to look seriously at the idea of moving the show to a larger venue. Battersea Park, Osterley Park, and Wisley were suggested; one proposal was that Chelsea should be limited to plant sales, and the sundries rerouted elsewhere; the firm of Land Use Consultants was hired to prepare a feasibility study, and after examining all these options, concluded that the Show should stay at Chelsea. The real rescue came from the expansion of the shows programme into other venues, and in particular from the takeover of the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 1993: the increased options for both members and for exhibitors meant that the intense criticisms and conflict of the 1980s over the future of the Show did not return.
by the BBC
. An official DVD of the show is produced on behalf of the RHS by Twofour
. Several members of the British Royal Family
attend a preview of the show, as part of the royal patronage
of the RHS. The area of land devoted to show gardens increased steadily between 1970 and 2000 and the show has become an important venue for watching trends. New plants are often launched at the show and the popularity of older varieties revived under the focus of the horticultural world. It is the garden design equivalent of a catwalk at a fashion show.
Highlights from the 2011 RHS Chelsea Flower Show includes The Irish Sky Garden by Diarmuid Gavin
based on the idea of a restaurant in the sky.
Other show stopping gardens included the HESCO Garden, by Leeds City Council
who reconstructed an impressive and idyllic working water wheel in the grounds of the Royal Hospital.
The 2011 show also saw the introduction of the new Artisan garden category which featured beautiful artistic and natural gardens.
.
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural Society
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...
(RHS) in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea
Royal Hospital Chelsea
The Royal Hospital Chelsea is a retirement home and nursing home for British soldiers who are unfit for further duty due to injury or old age, located in the Chelsea region of central London, now the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is a true hospital in the original sense of the word,...
in Chelsea, London
Chelsea, London
Chelsea is an area of West London, England, bounded to the south by the River Thames, where its frontage runs from Chelsea Bridge along the Chelsea Embankment, Cheyne Walk, Lots Road and Chelsea Harbour. Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above...
. The show is the most famous flower show in the United Kingdom, perhaps the world attracting visitors from all over the world.
Highlights to the Chelsea Flower Show include the avant-garde show gardens designed by leading names with Floral Marquee at the centrepiece. The Show also features smaller garden such as the Artisan and Urban Gardens.
The Great Spring Show
The first Royal Horticultural Society Great Spring Show was held in 1862, at the RHS garden in Kensington. Before this date the RHS had held flower shows from 1833 in their garden in Chiswick, which themselves had been preceded by fetes. The Kensington Garden was chosen as a site because the flower shows in Chiswick were experiencing falling visitor numbers due to problems such as poor transport links. The Great Spring Show was held at Kensington for twenty-six years but in 1888 the RHS decided to move the show to the heart of London. The site chosen was the Temple Gardens, situated between the Embankment and Fleet StreetFleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
, which had a recorded history dating back to 1307 and which were said to date from the time of the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
. The roses for which these Temple Gardens were famous were alluded to in Shakespeare's Henry VI Part 1. Using two marquees requisitioned from the old Kensington shows the 1888 show was a success with exhibits from both amateurs and commercial firms. By 1897 five marquees were being used with many of the best known plant and seed merchants being attracted to the event including Suttons and Sons.
Royal International Horticultural Exhibition
In 1912, the Temple Show was cancelled to make way for the Royal International Horticultural Exhibition. Sir Harry Veitch
Harry Veitch
Sir Harry James Veitch was an eminent English horticulturist in the nineteenth century, who was the head of the family nursery business, James Veitch & Sons, based in Chelsea, London...
, the great nurseryman, secured the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, for this one-off event. It proved such a good site for an exhibition that the Great Spring Show was moved there in 1913, where it has taken place almost every year since.
Royal Hospital, Chelsea - early 20th century
The RHS first became involved with the Chelsea Hospital in 1905. Three years before, it had leased the grounds of Holland House in Kensington to hold what was first advertised as a Coronation Rose Show, but which turned into a more general show (with not many roses) by the time it actually opened in June. Two further two-day summer shows took place at Holland House in 1903 and 1904, but then, to the general satisfaction of exhibitors and press, a three-day Summer Show was staged in the Hospital grounds, a more spacious site than Holland House had allowed, with room for five tents. The Summer Shows reverted to Holland House for the years thereafter, except in 1911, when both it and Chelsea proved unavailable, and the Show was held at the Olympia exhibition hall.
The Royal International Horticultural Exhibition of 1912 demonstrated, at a time when the complaints from the Temple were increasing annually, what an excellent site for a show the grounds of the Chelsea Hospital provided. Accordingly, for 1913, the Great Spring Show was moved there, while the Summer Show reverted to Holland House. Despite the First World War, the show was held 1914 – 1916, but was cancelled in 1917 and 1918.
By the roaring 1920s, the Chelsea Flower Show was back in full swing, the famous Chelsea tea parties were established and Royal visits resumed. In 1926 the show was held a week late due to the General Strike.
In 1937, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth celebrated their Coronation Year, and to mark the occasion, a superb Empire Exhibition was staged. It featured wattles from Australia, pines from Canada, brilliant gladioli from East Africa and even a big prickly pear from Palestine.
The show was cancelled during the Second World War, as the land was required by the War Office for an anti-aircraft site. Some doubt arose as to whether the show would resume in 1947. The majority of exhibitors wanted a postponement, as stocks of plants were low, staff much depleted and fuel for greenhouses was obtainable only with special permits, but Lord Aberconway (then RHS President) and the RHS Council felt strongly that the show should resume as soon as possible. As it turned out, the show went ahead in 1947 and it was a great success.
Royal Hospital, Chelsea - later 20th century
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 was a sufficient cause for a flower show that reflected the celebratory mood of the country. Most members of the Royal family attended that year. Unfortunately, due to other commitments, the only Royal unable to attend was the Queen herself.
And the Show went on to increase in popularity throughout the second half of the century – until its popularity became its major problem. Crowding within the tents had been a recurring refrain during the interwar years, but always mastered by increasing the tentage; photographs show heavy crowds in the open, especially in the vicinity of the rock gardens. As the 1970s progressed, the attendance at the Chelsea Show climbed, by as much as 6,000 visitors in a single year (1978). In 1979, crowding became so severe in the mornings that the turnstiles were temporarily closed, and it was clear that some emergency action was needed. It was decided to open the Show at 8 am next year, and close it at 8.30 in the evenings, with a reduced price
for entry after 4 pm, to try to draw people away from the morning time-slot; and a one-way system was laid out in the marquee (an expedient that had been rejected as impracticable 20 years earlier). The arrangements worked better than expected in 1980, when a bare majority of Council voted for the imposition of a ceiling on the number of tickets sold. But numbers continued to increase, and in 1987 the turnstiles were closed again. In 1988 a limit of 40,000 visitors per day was imposed – a reduction of 90,000 in total from the previous year – and members were charged for tickets for the first time. An immediate response was a fall in attendance; by April, ticket booking was so slow that national advertisements were taken out to encourage people to come to Chelsea, and the original announcement that tickets would not be available at the gates was rescinded. 1988 was also the first year that ticket touts made their presence felt, and the RHS felt the frustration of seeing its tickets sold at a considerable mark-up without being able to do anything.
An alarmed Council now began to look seriously at the idea of moving the show to a larger venue. Battersea Park, Osterley Park, and Wisley were suggested; one proposal was that Chelsea should be limited to plant sales, and the sundries rerouted elsewhere; the firm of Land Use Consultants was hired to prepare a feasibility study, and after examining all these options, concluded that the Show should stay at Chelsea. The real rescue came from the expansion of the shows programme into other venues, and in particular from the takeover of the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 1993: the increased options for both members and for exhibitors meant that the intense criticisms and conflict of the 1980s over the future of the Show did not return.
The Chelsea Flower Show today
The Chelsea Flower Show receives a lot of publicity. It is attended by 157,000 visitors each year (a number limited by the capacity of the 11 acres (44,515.5 m²) ground), and all tickets must be purchased in advance. From 2005 the show was increased from four days to five, with the first two days only open to RHS members. The show is extensively covered on televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. An official DVD of the show is produced on behalf of the RHS by Twofour
Twofour
Twofour is a UK independent media group that was founded in 1988 by Charles Wace, a former TV news producer and brother of financier Ian Wace. It has grown to become one of the largest independent media groups in the UK, employing over 350 people internationally....
. Several members of the British Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
attend a preview of the show, as part of the royal patronage
Patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...
of the RHS. The area of land devoted to show gardens increased steadily between 1970 and 2000 and the show has become an important venue for watching trends. New plants are often launched at the show and the popularity of older varieties revived under the focus of the horticultural world. It is the garden design equivalent of a catwalk at a fashion show.
Highlights from the 2011 RHS Chelsea Flower Show includes The Irish Sky Garden by Diarmuid Gavin
Diarmuid Gavin
Diarmuid Gavin is an Irish garden designer and television personality. He is married to Justine Keane, daughter of The Hon. Ronan Keane, the former Chief Justice of Ireland, and Terry Keane, and they have a daughter named Eppie born December 2004.-Early life:When he was six, his younger brother...
based on the idea of a restaurant in the sky.
Other show stopping gardens included the HESCO Garden, by Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority for the City of Leeds metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England.-History:The city council was established in 1974, with the first elections being held in advance in 1973...
who reconstructed an impressive and idyllic working water wheel in the grounds of the Royal Hospital.
The 2011 show also saw the introduction of the new Artisan garden category which featured beautiful artistic and natural gardens.
Awards
There are four grades of award presented, gold, silver-gilt, silver and bronze, in each of the categories listed below. Bronze grade exhibits do not actually receive a medalMedal
A medal, or medallion, is generally a circular object that has been sculpted, molded, cast, struck, stamped, or some way rendered with an insignia, portrait, or other artistic rendering. A medal may be awarded to a person or organization as a form of recognition for athletic, military, scientific,...
.
Awards categories
- Flora Gardens and floral exhibits
- Hogg Exhibits of trees
- Knightian Exhibits of vegetables, including herbs
- Lindley Exhibits of special educational or scientific interest
- Grenfell Exhibits of pictures, photographs, floral arrangements and floristryFloristryFloristry is the general term used to describe production, commerce and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design or flower arranging, merchandising, and display and flower delivery. Wholesale florists sell bulk flowers and related supplies to professionals in the trade...
Special awards
- Best Show Garden Award
- Best Courtyard Garden Award
- Best Chic Garden Award
- Best City Garden Award
- RHS Sundries Bowl
- RHS Junior Display Trophy
- RHS Floral Arrangement Trophies
- RHS Floristry Trophies
- Show Certificates of merit
- Certificates for Junior displays
- RHS President's Award
Significant gardens and exhibits
- 1929 Mrs Sherman Hoyt's exhibit of American cacti, complete with painted backdrops depicting the Mojave desert, which was acquired for Kew and had its own glasshouse there for over half a century, before being absorbed into the Princess of Wales Conservatory
- 1930s J. Macdonald's grass gardens – the lone voice declaring the merits of ornamental grasses for his generation
- 1936 Hilliers' 'Dingley Dell' exhibit
- 1937 Coronation Year: the Empire Exhibition, with displays of ornamental and economic plants from around the Empire
- 1953 Another Coronation Year: William Wood of Taplow staged a 'Cutty Sark' garden
- 1959 The Times 'Garden of To-morrow', complete with radio-controlled lawn mower
- 1960 The great orchid display to accompany the Third World Orchid Conference
- 1964 Popular Gardening's 'Garden of Today'
- 1967 The first garden for the disabled at Chelsea
- 1968 Wisley's exhibit of hostas, which gave a great boost to their popularity
- 1980 Display of penjing from China
- 1982 Brenda Hyatt's display of auriculas, which launched these plants back into popularity
- 1988 John Chambers's honeybee garden
- 1993 Julie Toll's seaside garden controversially won the last Wilkinson Sword award for best garden, described by David Stevens as 'a sand dune garden that was well planted and beautiful, but visitors said it wasn't a garden'
- 1994 Isabel and Julian Bannerman's Daily Telegraph Old Abbey garden, with a virtuoso display of mature tree transplanting
- 1996 Dan Pearson's London roof garden for the 1990s
- 1997 Christopher Bradley-Hole's Latin Garden, the first garden at Chelsea to exhibit the new fashion for sparse planting
- 2000 The Garden History Society's Le Nôtre Garden, and Piet Oudolf's winning 'Evolution' garden
- 2009 James May's Paradise in Plasticine, a garden made entirely of Plasticine.
- 2010 Row after row of exotic orchids from TaiwanTaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, presented by the Taiwan Orchid Growers Association (TOGA). This was the first time that TaiwanTaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
was invited to the Chelsea Flower Show. - 2011 Diarmuid Garvin's Irish Sky Garden. This was the first garden to be suspended in the air.
Show dates
- The 2009 show was held 19-23 May.
- The 2010 show was held 25-29 May.
- The 2011 show was held 24-28 May.
- The 2012 show will be held 22-26 May.
See also
- Royal Horticultural SocietyRoyal Horticultural SocietyThe Royal Horticultural Society was founded in 1804 in London, England as the Horticultural Society of London, and gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861 by Prince Albert...
- Tatton Park Flower ShowTatton Park Flower ShowRHS Flower Show Tatton Park held at Tatton Park, near Knutsford, Cheshire first began in 1999 by the Royal Horticultural Society. The show houses the RHS National Flower Bed Competition, Young Designer of the Year Award and a wide range of inspirational show gardens, smaller 'Back to Back' gardens,...
- Hampton Court Palace Flower ShowHampton Court Palace Flower ShowThe Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is the largest flower show in the world. The Show is held in early July, and run by the Royal Horticultural Society at Hampton Court Palace in southwest London. The show features show gardens, floral marquees and pavilions, talks and demonstrations...
- Garden festivalGarden festivalA garden / flora festival or exposition is a festival and exposition held to celebrate the arts of gardening, garden design, landscaping and landscape architecture. There are local garden festivals, regional garden festivals, National Garden Festivals and International Garden Festivals. The idea...
- Cultural iconCultural iconA cultural icon can be a symbol, logo, picture, name, face, person, building or other image that is readily recognized and generally represents an object or concept with great cultural significance to a wide cultural group...
- List of cultural icons of England
External links
- RHS Chelsea Flower Show official site
- Hampton Court Palace Flower Show official site
- RHS Show Tatton Park official site
- RHS Show Cardiff official site
- The Royal Horticultural Society official site
- Coverage from the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
- Coverage from The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Coverage from The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...