It is indeed surprising it’s held here because the majority of flowers have foreign origin.
The Chelsea Flower Show is the most influential floral exhibition there is and it’s one of the oldest in the world; it is organized every year by the Royal Horticultural Society (a famous English horticultural institution founded in the nineteenth century).
The company also manages four non-profit gardens in different areas on the country. It was towards the beginning of the nineteenth century that the idea of a flower Expo began to spread within the British nobility.
It first developed with a floral exhibition in Chiswick then came the Chelsea Flower Show, which became much more important because new concepts were developed and foreign growers were invited to participate.
The Show, among the oldest and most frequented in the world of the sector, is held every year in May (usually in the second half) from Tuesday to Saturday and is organized by the Royal Horticultural Society together with many flower producers from Europe and elsewhere.
One of the most important events of the London Summer Social Season not only from a botanical point of view, the event welcomes the most important members of the English aristocracy, actors, singers, well-known professionals and bankers.
Chelsea Show
In 1913 it was Queen Mary herself who inaugurated the first edition of the Chelsea Flower Show and admired the installations of plants and flowers and, still today, every year our Queen Elizabeth II, continues this tradition by paying it a visit, the day before the opening to the public.
A large group of the royal family usually accompanies the sovereign in the tour of the gardens and the show opens in style with this Private View on Monday, reserved only for a lucky few and the royal family.
The setting is the vast garden of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea.
More than 100,000 people usually visit the event every year, to witness the best of world gardening, from traditional to contemporary, through ethnic and sustainable, carefully directed by the Royal Horticultural Society.
The Chelsea Flower Show is divided into several sections, with different characteristics that each year propose new spectacular installations and traditional, symbolic projects, permeated by classic or ultramodern elements: they are the highest example of contemporary landscape design.
A jury of experts (botanists, university professors, gardeners, garden designers and architects) each year awards different categories by awarding a gold, silver and bronze medal, as well as proclaiming the best project on the show (Best Show Garden Award) and other special prizes.
Among the most important categories there are certainly the stage gardens (the heart of the exhibition), generally open on two sides; the 'Show Garden' and the ‘Real gardens’ that every year collect the most recent and significant experiences in the field of gardening. These are joined by the smaller ones, in the category of 'Artisan Gardens' which, as can be easily guessed from the name, are those in which the handicraft and manual component prevails, both in the design and in the use of materials.
We find over 500 exhibitors of products related to furniture and green technologies and at the centre of it all is the Great Pavilion, where irreducible plant producers measure themselves by presenting new crossings and wonderful floral installations with rare plants and flowers, to compete for the best of the year.
Every year the show is accompanied by special events, concerts, performances, dances and live music.
There are many private parties organized by each stand, inside the gardens or in the various purpose-built pavilions.
An event not to be missed but for which tickets must be purchased at least three or four months in advance.
