Chelsea Flower show
Posted by Gillian Jones B.A/M.A/PGCE on 19/05/2015
Chelsea Flower Show – 19th – 23rd May
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better”
Albert Einstein
With the Chelsea Flower Show on the horizon, it’s a good idea to revisit this beautiful British horticultural extravaganza and look at its history. How did the Chelsea Flower Show come to be?
The Chelsea Flower Show started out with a different name, with the rather long title of The Royal Horticultural Society’s Great Spring Show. This was held for the first time in 1862 in Kensington. In 1913 the flower shower changed location to the Chelsea General Hospital.
Naturally, the wars took their toll and the Second World War saw the closure of the show while it was used by the War Office. It started up again in 1947.
Chelsea Flower Show – 19th – 23rd May
“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better”
Albert Einstein
With the Chelsea Flower Show on the horizon, it’s a good idea to revisit this beautiful British horticultural extravaganza and look at its history. How did the Chelsea Flower Show come to be?
The Chelsea Flower Show started out with a different name, with the rather long title of The Royal Horticultural Society’s Great Spring Show. This was held for the first time in 1862 in Kensington. In 1913 the flower shower changed location to the Chelsea General Hospital.
Naturally, the wars took their toll and the Second World War saw the closure of the show while it was used by the War Office. It started up again in 1947.
Until 2000 the show was housed in a marquee but it now exhibits its horticultural splendours inside a pavilion. The old marquee was so large it was entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the largest test in the world, which was then made into aprons, jackets and bags once it had been taken down.
All of the gardens on display are built from nothing in under 20 days but are dismantled in about five.
Highlights and low lights of the Chelsea Flower Show
In 2010 naked models were painted from neck to foot in block colours and skipped through Brand Alley’s urban Art Deco garden. I love Art Deco – but really?
In 2009 we had a plasticine garden from James May, and in 2012 Birmingham City Council gave Chelsea a Grecian style temple complete with a flying horse and a mini covered in flowers.
Naturally, the Chelsea Flower Show will be popular again this year and tickets will sell fast, but if you’re not lucky enough to have got one, then TV is the last resort with the BBC’s highlights.
Flower themed antiques
And how about some antiques with flower themes to cheer you, they won’t replace the Flower Show’s magnificence, but they can provide a heavenly reminder of your love of flowers.
There’s the exquisitely designed painted regency Penwork Sewing Box with white wood sycamore and painted flowers and green foliage, one of the best in its category for some time.
Or perhaps the Vase and Flower painting by Irene Stocks? Vivid colours bring this cubist flavoured painting to life. Or maybe you’d prefer the Charles Bone Ppri Arca pastel plants in the artist’s garden. And in keeping with a horticultural theme there’s a rare 19th century black forest plant stand which comes with a magnificent 10 tiers, created to give the illusion of a tree trunk with limitless branches. It dates to around 1880.
Interiors
Of course if you love flowers, you may have already created a horticulturally inspired interior for your home, and with botanicals and nature inspired topics being key in interior designs this year, it would seem that Mother Nature is indeed providing us with plenty of reminders that she is everywhere, and if we look a little carefully and a little deeper, we will understand everything a little better.