A first timers’ guide to The Chelsea Flower Show
A mainstay on locals’ social calendars for over a hundred years, The Chelsea Flower Show has built its reputation around exclusivity, and can feel untouchably posh, especially for those born outside the kilometre of real estate surrounding it.
Regulars say that, in broad terms, the event hasn’t really changed for years, a narrative bolstered this week when an ambassador hired in 2022 to make it more accessible quit, saying bosses are more interested in “exclusivity over equity.”
Perhaps the cache is what interests newcomers in the first place – it certainly inspired me, having never been before, to make my first Chelsea Flower Show visit.
It is certainly full of ideas about how to give your home and garden a glow-up, and full of fabulous people wearing impossibly fabulous things. Open to the public from today until Saturday, here’s a guide for what to do and where to go.
A first timers’ guide to The Chelsea Flower Show
Go inside to get close to the flowers
If, like me, you thought a visit to The Chelsea Flower Show meant you’d be surrounded by flowers, you’d be (partially) wrong. As a whole, the show isn’t as immersive as I’d imagined, and is instead more of a passive experience, looking out over gardens like they’re art displays rather than immersing yourself in them.
To get closer to those darling buds, go inside. The Great Pavilion is the more informal space, where brands, academic institutions and even countries exhibit displays. I felt sated after walking through David Austin’s rose garden, one of a few exhibits that allowed guests to meander through it like you would a proper garden. South Africa’s giant floral display, complete with waterfall, is triumphant, and I enjoyed Kent Wildflower Seeds’ display in collaboration with the English whisky brand Fielden.
Sixty per cent of their display flowers are wildflowers – effectively weeds – to show how beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, and their garden is a lovely artistic ode to the English countryside (a dram of the whisky went down well, too). If you’re looking for straightforward inspiration for what to plant for summer, or for a sensory overload, inside at The Chelsea Flower Show is where to head.
Wear comfy shoes
I thought I’d spend my day laying amongst flowers reading classic literature. Wrong. The display gardens are roped off from the public to keep them pristine, which reminded me of Japanese display gardens designed to be admired from outside rather than within. It’s a lot of shuffling from one foliage museum-piece to the next, a lot of crowds, and certainly a whole lot of walking.
Given the average attendee has fond memories of rationing, the pace is slow, and the meandering takes its toll.
As you can imagine, every display garden is a mild sensation, and flower fangirl levels of clambering mean sometimes you feel as if you’re trying to glimpse The Beatles rather than a brugmansia. Crowds aside, it is fabulous. The flowers look lovely, even if you feel like sawing your leg off by the end of the day to ease the pain.
The futuristic stuff is fascinating
When we think about the future, we often talk in vague, intangible terms. Could there be life in space? Maybe. Will Artificial Intelligence destroy humanity? Eesh, hopefully not. But The Chelsea Flower Show’s most fascinating displays offer a palpable vision of the future.
The Garden of the Future and Save for a Rainy Day Gardens both play on climate change to imagine how the warmer weather will affect our gardens. The former turns human poo into biochar, usable as soil to improve the health of plants. The garden has a toilet in it, although, thankfully, it isn’t in use right now, nor on the market quite yet.
In terms of manageable takeaways, the installation suggests new ways to run gardens sustainably, including climate friendly garden designs. Save for a Rainy Day Gardens was my favourite: featuring plants more typically found in southern France and Spain, it shows the types of vegetation that may thrive in the UK in the future.
Talk to people: experts are everywhere
For the latest garden ideas, the best thing about Chelsea Flower Show is that the creators stand beside their gardens all day to share tips. Ask them about layering, colouration, whatever takes your fancy.
In other areas (there is a lovely food and drink section that feels like a music festival) retailers sell everything from ceramics to garden outhouses and weird little gnomes to pep up your garden’s vibe.
Tickets to The Chelsea Flower Show are available online
Read more: Make your own Chelsea Flower Show winner on a London balcony