Today I was lucky enough to sopend the day at Chelsea Flower Show.
The show is held annually for five days in May. It is held at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea and has been since 1913. This will be the 85th show to be held at this site. Originally known as the Great Spring Show, it was first held in Kensington in 1862
This is the ultimate event in the gardening year. It sets the latest gardening trends, features the newest and most desirable gardening products and creates an explosion of colours and scents.
RHS staff, exhibitors and contractors start planning for the show 18 months in advance. Work is already underway for the show in 2009. It takes 800 people three and a half weeks to build the show. Construction of the show includes 5km of piping, 185 toilets and enough canvas to cover six football pitches. The Great Pavilion covers nearly 12,000 sq m. Around 250 new plants have been launched at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show over the past four years. 17,000 sq m of turf is re-laid after the show. The showground covers 11 acres.
There are around 600 exhibitors in total. The show features around 50 gardens and more than 100 floral exhibitors in the Great Pavilion. International exhibitors come from countries as far away as the Sweden, Barbados, Sri Lanka, France, Holland, Germany, Australia, Jamaica, South Africa, Trinidad & Tobago and Zimbabwe. Some exhibitors such as Nottcutts, Kelways and McBean's Orchids have exhibited at the show since its early days.
Among the top garden designers creating show gardens this year are Jinny Blom, Andy Sturgeon, Diarmuid Gavin, Sarah Eberle, Marcus Barnett, Philip Nixon and Gabriella Pape and Isabelle Van Groeningen.
David and I started the day with breakfast at the Bistro Restaurant which offers the best views of the show overlooking some of the major gardens. We had to book in advance and good job we did - it was very busy. I did a few rows on my "green" sock that I cast on on the train. The reason for "green" was becasue Chelsea was very much themed around green. This is Regia Kaffe Fassett sock yarn in Mirage colourway.
There was a bandstand in the picnic/seating area in Ranelagh Gardens. At different times of the day we were able to listen to Jonathan Ansell, Jive Aces and The Guards Association Band. We took a few breaks here to give the legs a rest. You can walk a few miles around the show!
I managed to take rather a few photo's. I will share a selection
Has someone left their knitting in one of the gardens?
All in all we had a fabulous day and my knitting enjoyed the day too!
Happy Knitting
xx
Hi Anna
Er did you actually see Jonathan Ansell?
I heard he wasn't there after all.
Tracy