The year is flying by and it’s nearly May already; at long last the optimism of spring has reached even this weary and cynical gardener.
May arrives with great flourish, and this is the month of The Chelsea Flower Show- billed by some as the greatest flower show on Earth.
The great and the good from the world of gardening, and not just from here in the UK, will gather in one place for this important annual event.
I Won’t Be There
As a perk for some things I do for the Royal Horticultural Society (who would now apparently prefer to just be called the ‘RHS’), I’m offered a free pass to the Chelsea Flower Show.
I don’t take them up on the offer. I would like to tell you that I’m making some great statement against something, but the truth is I’m just not fussed about the show.
Tulipa acuminata
Let’s just be clear; I’m not one of the people who say they’re not going but who go anyway, or who go and pretend that they’re doing some great service to humanity by doing so. I could attend if I wanted to, but don’t want to.
A Different World
Fascinating as it might be to temporarily glimpse into a different world, I’m actually quite happy in my own.
As a horti-nerd I find the idea of Chelsea perplexing. Why do people want to converge on a small part of London to see a load of very expensive gardens built by very expensive garden designers, or to fight my way through crowds to look at displays in the floral marquee?
Real plants growing in real soil
I’ve been in the flower show world, a world of charming displays of still-potted plants propped on pallets and scrunched up compost bags, of show gardens that take a week to build and a day or so to dismantle. It’s all fake, it’s all temporary. I’ve just stopped caring.
Not Just Me!
A couple of people have shown surprise that this iconic event is not important to me.
On the whole I’ve found a lot of whole-hearted agreement. Clients, fellow gardeners and personal friends have also started to lose interest. Those who watch the TV coverage say they’re bored of the repetitive cycle of the same few gardens and the same faces from night to night.
I prefer specialist plant shows myself
Many have come to prefer time in their own gardens; May can be a magical time of the year in the UK, and being out among the flowers in the peace and tranquillity of the garden is very appealing.
Chelsea still draws a crowd. Even at around £100+ (~$133) per ticket there are still those who feel they have to be there.
I don’t understand why but there are people in the world who feel the need to be seen, and who get a great deal of pleasure from telling others that they’ve been somewhere they consider important. I don’t want to be seen and I certainly don’t want people to think I’m a somebody just because I’ve been somewhere interesting. If I ever walk on the moon or do something like that then we’ll revisit this…
No Thanks
The world doesn’t revolve around me.
Things exist in the world that are for the enjoyment of others; this is absolutely fine. If you’re one of those people who long to attend the Chelsea Flower Show, or maybe you’re going, how nice for you.
Likewise you might be one of those gardeners who’s glued to media coverage to see what roses Arabella Foxtrot-Brown Elliott is using in her designs this year, or which irises make the cut with Andrew H. Hobley-knucklebottom; again, nice for you.
Why fawn over fake gardens when real gardens exist?
I don’t subscribe to the idea that Chelsea represents the very best horticulture in the world. Indeed I doubt it represents the best horticulture in London.
The world of horticulture, from the amateur gardener just setting out on their journey to the seasoned gardener whose garden is envied by all, and from the plant breeders and nurseryfolk to designers and professional gardeners, is vast. Can a thing as vast, complex and generally beautiful as the world of horticulture ever hope to have a single focal point?
The Chelsea Flower Show is iconic because it’s old, famous and has become a society event. Beyond that it has little relevance to anyone outside a very small circle of designers, the apparently dwindling number of nurseries that bother to attend, and of course people in a position to spend a fortune on their garden.
This event no more represents the best of anything than a bakery can represent the best of baking bread, or a brand of light bulbs produces the best of light. It’s good if you’re morally invested in it being good, but of little to no consequence if you aren’t.
My Gripe
My objection to the culture around the Chelsea Flower Show is that we’re supposed to care greatly about it.
There’s this unwritten rule that anyone who has ever planted anything anywhere must dream of attending the Chelsea Flower Show.
No amount of skill will ever capture the soul of a real garden
I’m not interested in shaping the hopes and dreams of others, but let’s keep things in perspective here. The Chelsea Flower Show is an elitist event that caters to a small sliver of the ultra-wealthy and the wannabes; there is little there of any relevance to the absolute majority of us. At best it’s a cue to daydream about what garden we would have if we had the time and the money.
So if you, like me, aren’t interested then that’s fine. We all find our joy in different places. The world is changing and we gain our inspiration from many different places now, so the Chelsea Flower Show is no longer the centre of the gardening world.
The Chelsea Flower Show originally appeared on GardenRant on April 28, 2025.
The post The Chelsea Flower Show appeared first on GardenRant.