Views on this years Chelsea

I would be interested to hear peoples views on anything to do with this years show.

Firstly I would like to say how brave Carol Klein is to be there at all this year

 

Yes, I hope Carol is recovering well, sounds like she is on the mend which is good.

Its impressive, though I think of it more of an artists' show with plants than a gardening show. Nothing wrong with that, but for me central to gardening is the nurturing aspect and the patience of watching your space grow and come to life over many years.

Also it doesn't really seem to vary a huge amount from year to year.

 

If you can, have a look at Tom Stuart Smiths garden, it is stunning. Not a surprise I suppose, he is such a wonderful designer.

 

I have to say and although it's early days for chelsea I have yet to see anything that floats my boat...there's still plenty of time though.
Re' Carol Kline I wish her well,I love her enthusiasm.

 

We’ve decided not to watch any of the coverage until after our visit tomorrow. I do remember from previous visits, that the gardens I loved or really disliked on the TV coverage were not always the ones that I loved/disliked in real life and vice versa.

 

I have been watching on tv as off work unwell and I do love the “best in show” garden but no spoilers if I can help it. I hope they have had better weather than us today or guests will be extremely damp!
There seems to be a lot of purple and so many lupins.
Lots to see so enjoy if you are going but as I hate crowds I will stick to tv coverage

 

I've only watched the 1st TV show so far as I've been a bit busy to watch it in the daytime and no-one else is interested in it for evening watching. I shall binge later on.

Always lots of purple @Debs64 - all those seasonal alliums and irises apart from anything else. I do get jealous of the fabulous lupins - mine always get slugged and snaied or covered in woolly aphids.

 

Yes @Obelix-Vendée every year I try with lupins and every year the aphids come.
Youngest daughter is going this year with her Dad, I only went once many years ago not my cup of tea but some of the gardens are really lovely

 

Expensive gardening for the rich snobs and celebrities. Little or no relevance to ordinary folks.

 

I think a lot of ordinary folk go to Chelsea and many others enjoy the tv coverage

 

I've quite enjoyed the TV coverage this year. It seems 'quieter' and not so jazzy.
I like the fact that the show gardens have to have 'green' credentials and that most will be recycled and re-installed elsewhere afterwards. The designers seem to be younger with an emphasis on well being rather than on how much money they can throw at the project and there are lots of ideas for 'ordinary' people to take on board for their own gardens. Apart from the usual purple alliums and silver birches, the plants appear to be more varied and yet more familiar.

 

In theory, of course there is the inspiration from Chelsea, but a lot of these new plant varieties are unlikely to be widely available. Many people will have supermarkets or garden centres rather than specialist nurseries near them that tend to stock the same range of tried and tested reliable plants, treated much as any other stocked item would be.

Online ordering helps to some extent, but its a bit of a gamble since plants are one of those things its good to inspect before you buy.

At £85 a ticket, its understandably a hugely expensive thing to run, but that makes it way out of the price range of most people (before you add the costs of food and drink and plants). I wouldn't enjoy it. Too crowded.

 

I so wish the RHS would drop this horse trading festival...has zero relevance for most people and not particularly relevant to their aim to be a more sustainable organisation than focuses on conservation and making gardening more future proof. But then it's easy not watch the programmes or buy a ticket to it

 

One limiting, but unavoidable factor, is that it happens at the same time of yr each yr (with the recent one-off autumn exception). Late spring is the easiest time to have a lovely garden. Most gardens look at their best now, with all the different greens plus the potential for both buds and open flowers, but it does mean there are lots of plants never used by the designers.

Given most new builds have tiny plots, it's a bit like serving up an opera performance to someone who just wants a catchy tune to hum though.

 

Oh dear, poor RHS. I won’t be going to Chelsea again too crowded for me and I don’t watch all of the tv coverage but why “drop” something which brings beauty to the world and gives pleasure to so many. There are many events going on every day in which I have no interest whatsoever so I ignore them, all sports for example, but I don’t think they shouldn’t go ahead and be enjoyed and supported by others. Maybe people expect too much from Chelsea. It’s just a flower show. These days being British can be embarrassing we don’t have much to be proud of but we do have our gardens.