A Chelsea Flower Show virgin writes

by Tamsin Hemingray in At home on 22.05.08

If you thought the Chelsea Flower Show was just a bunch of snooty west London ladies in hats, think again. I am.

Yesterday I paid my first visit to the show, courtesy of a friend who works for the Royal Horticultural Society (he’s a co-ordinator of the RHS’s extremely worthwhile schools’ education programme, plug plug) who gets free tickets as one of the perks of the job.

I went along pretty much expecting to spend most of the day getting pushed, shoved and looked-down-on by Little Englanders. Somehow, my prejudice had led me to imagine that the “typical” Chelsea Flower Show-goer would be a living embodiment of the Daily Mail: pompous, pushy, and mildly hysterical. (I hang my head in shame for my inverted snobbery.)

The reality was a delightful surprise. Certainly, some of my preconceptions were confirmed by the loud, plummy gentleman who stood immediately behind me as I gazed at the Tom Stuart-Smith’s Best In Show garden, snorting in disgust, (”Best in show? Are they joking? Are there any decent gardens to look at this year?”) and a Laura Ashley-fied lady querying the musical entertainment (”That’s never a military band!”).

But, actually, the throngs of people who stood and gazed in wonder at the horticultural loveliness of the show had only one thing in common: they liked flowers. And, gosh, what a lot of them there are to stare at at Chelsea.

Regular Living readers might know that my conversion to gardening is extremely recent. And that I’m not the most dedicated of horticulturists. But yesterday’s visit certainly got me fired-up with enthusiasm. Tom Stuart-Smith’s garden was lovely. But for me, the best of the show gardens was Shao Fan’s mind-bogglingly gorgeous sunken garden. It really did take my breath away. When I finally get around to buying that Hampstead townhouse, this is what my garden will be like.

On a more practical level, the courtyard garden designed by James Trowillis - using nothing but containers for the planting - gave me plenty of inspiration for my own little paved yard at the back of my rented terrace.

After the glory of the show gardens, there was nothing to do but order a jug of Pimm’s and picnic under a tree with my companions. Then it was on to the main pavillion to gorge on display after display of the most beautiful flowers, plants and trees you can possibly imagine. I picked up about twenty catalogues - I’d need several acres to plant everything that caught my eye yesterday. Reading the BBC’s coverage today, I’m gratified to see that I’m right on trend with my planting this year - I’m obsessed with irises and fox gloves, and I spotted yesterday that only the Australian show garden didn’t have these two uber-English species in them.

I arrived home yesterday evening with my expectations completely confounded, full of enthusiasm and inspiration and determined to give my garden and allotment my all in the future. In fact, I’m wondering whether we shouldn’t be getting MORE TH>N (Living’s sponsors) to support us with a Living garden next year. If there are any green-fingered readers out there who fancy helping get that project off the ground, then drop us a line.

Top tips for visiting the Chelsea Flower Show

In the meantime, if you’re heading to Chelsea for the first time:

• Get there as early as you can - trying to view the show gardens whilst being elbowed in the side by several zillion other excited garden-gazers is not fun - and the show gets really busy from lunchtime onwards.
• Bring a picnic - and then make use of the cloakroom - it’s so much less hassle, and cheaper to pick up your cool bag and settle down in a shady spot for lunch, than to fight for an over-priced baked potato in the food area.
• Although if money is no object, booking a table at the Loch Fyne seafood and champagne restaurant would be a stylish and hassle-free way to revive yourself after a morning’s viewing.
• If there are three or more in your party, a jug of Pimm’s works out much cheaper than separate glasses.
• Ladies - if you use the loos in the food stall area, be aware that there are a whole second row of cubicles round the back - and most of them were empty when I went.
• From 4pm on Saturday, most plant and flower stalls in the main pavillion will sell-off their wares at knock-down prices - but remember that many plants have been “forced” to look their best in this week, and may quickly fade once you’ve got them back to your garden.

IMAGES by Flickr user WolfieWolf