Chelsea Flower Show

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Chelsea Flower Show 2012

The Chelsea Flower Show is an annual garden show in London . It is organized by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and takes place on five days in May at the Royal Hospital in the London borough of Chelsea on an area of ​​4.5  hectares .

history

The first RHS Horticultural Show was held in Chiswick in the Society 's garden there in 1827 and was organized by John Lindley and Jeremy Bentham . Exhibitions took place there more or less regularly until 1857, when they were discontinued for lack of money. The exhibition location was not ideal, in 1829 visitors stood ankle-deep in the water and lost numerous shoes. In 1862 an exhibition was held in the newly landscaped garden in Kensington , London, but it incurred great losses. The exhibition had been held in the City's Inner Temple since 1888, but lawyers began to complain about the noise and smell, and the last event took place in 1911. In 1912 the RHS did not hold its own garden show, but took part in an international garden show with eleven hectares of exhibition space in the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, which was conveniently located and offered plenty of space. The RHS leased four hectares of lawn here and on May 20, 1913, Queen Alexandra opened the first Chelsea Flower Show in 1913 under the name "RHS Great Spring Flower Show". 240 exhibitors were involved. From the beginning there was a tent with plants and vegetables, which was replaced by the "Grand Marquee" in 1951. Most of the exhibitors had also set up tents. There was no direct sale. 17 gardens were shown, the Royal Artillery Band played and tea was served. The exhibition then took place almost annually. In 1915 and 1916 the extent of the exhibitions was reduced, in 1917 and 1918 it was canceled entirely. The British aristocracy could shine with the achievements of their gardeners at the exhibitions . Commercial nurseries were also represented, including McBeans Orchids, Kelways ( Langport , Somerset, founded in 1851 by James Kelways) and Blackmore & Langdons, which are still exhibiting in Chelsea today.

After a rock garden with goats was presented in 1914 , live animals were banned in show gardens. This rule was established in 2002 in favor of Koi -Karpfen and 2012 for a Corgi broken. When photo models in skimpy bathing suits lounged in the show garden of the Winkfield Manor Nurseries in the 1950s, this was stopped by the RHS deputy secretary with reference to the above rule. In 2015, however, synchronized swimmers with flower-crowned swimming caps appeared in a garden pond . Brightly painted statues such as garden gnomes are also prohibited from being exhibited, as are balloons, garlands or flags, as the RHS believes that they distract from the plants or products on display and the overall appearance of the exhibition. Since the 1990s, peat , fossils and limestone from certain geological formations have also been banned, and only wood with the FSC seal of approval may be used.

Minerva Hamilton Hoyt of the California Conservation Committee of the Garden Club of America exhibited California landscapes in 1928 , including sequoias , the Mojave Desert and the " Valley of Death ". It contained the skeleton of a buffalo and stuffed coyotes . The plants were then shown at Kew Gardens . Hoyt was made an honorary member of the RHS.

There were no exhibitions from 1940 to 1946.

Larkspur in the 2009 Grand Pavilion

Cut flowers have also been exhibited since 1947, initially due to the war and now in their own tent. Up until now there were special tents for roses, orchids, cut flowers, scientific exhibitions and garden design. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1951 was the reason for numerous special events that were attended by many members of the royal family. The Grand Marquee , a canvas tent on an area of ​​1.42 hectares, was abolished in 2000 and replaced by two plastic flower pavilions, which offered more space and better light. In 2005 the Grand Pavilion was introduced. Since 2012, the show gardens have also been provided with QR codes that link to the website of the Royal Society. The garden show is now making big profits that, according to the statutes , have to be used for charitable purposes.

construction

The first two days of the exhibition, Tuesday and Wednesday, are reserved for members of the Royal Horticultural Society, after which other visitors are also admitted, whereby the tickets must be pre-ordered as the number is limited to 161,000. Children are not allowed. Elizabeth II, then still Elizabeth Windsor, was invited in 1947 at the age of 10 and appeared with her mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon and sister Margaret . The increasing overcrowding has been lamented since the 1930s. Plants from the exhibition and the show gardens can be bought on Saturdays from 4 p.m.

In addition to garden products of all kinds, e.g. B. tools or decorative garden elements, new plants and 20 show gardens are presented. As part of the garden show, members of the RHS also answer questions about plants, their diseases and pests.

Since 2012 the garden show has been accompanied by the Chelsea Fringe with events and art activities across the city and in the surrounding area.

Show gardens

There are show and themed gardens in several categories. The 15 large show gardens are currently being built on an area of ​​10 × 22 m 2 each ; they are located on the main avenue of the exhibition. In 2009 a large show garden cost between £ 150,000 and £ 300,000. The category “ Urban Gardens ” has been abolished. Other categories are “Small Gardens”, eleven “Fresh Gardens”, eight artist gardens and “Generation Gardens”. The exhibitors have 19 days to set up and five days to dismantle. Show gardens were initially set up by horticultural companies, garden designers have been increasingly employed since the 1960s, and today, due to the high costs, only garden architects work on behalf of a sponsor. Men are clearly overrepresented.

Awards are given in different honor categories, these are awarded on Tuesday morning (press day) as medals in gold, gold-plated silver ( silver- gilt ), silver and bronze. There is also an audience award and a prize for the best garden in the exhibition ( Best in Show ). In 2011, the awarding of prizes for the show gardens was heavily criticized, which is why the RHS invited a forum of judges, journalists, sponsors and garden designers to discuss the award criteria in the same year. Bob Sweet has been named RHS shows judging manager and the honorary judges are expected to be accredited in the future. Previously largely secret, the names of the judges have been listed in the exhibition catalog since 2012. In addition, the judges are no longer allowed to exhibit themselves. There is also an audience award that Thomas Hoblyn's Arthritis Research UK Garden won in 2012.

Best in Show

Gold medals

1913

  • James Wood of Boston Spa , Yorkshire Rock Garden (only gold medal)

1937

  • Sylvia Crowe (1901–1997) and Cutbush Nurseries, rock garden with pond and waterfall

2005

2007:

  • Andy Sturgeon, The Outdoor Room, sponsor Cancer Research uK, Show Garden category

2008:

  • Phillip Nixon, Landform Consultants Ltd, The Savills Garden, Sponsor Savills plc , Show Garden category

2013 (ten gold medals):

2014 (six gold medals) 2015 (seven gold medals)

Plant of the year

In 2010 the “Plant of the Year” award was introduced. Previous winners:

In 2013, the most popular garden show plants of the past 100 years were to be identified, for this purpose amateur gardeners selected a plant for each decade of the garden show, which is available for selection on the Society's website.

plants

Some plants were named after the garden show, such as the pale pink vetch "Chelsea Centenary" from New Zealand by Mr Fothergills and the cream-colored simple clematis "Chelsea" by Raymond Evison.

meaning

In the UK , the Chelsea Flower Show is considered the premier garden show and is a social event. It traditionally marked the start of the London season . Traditionally, Queen Elizabeth II visits the exhibition on the opening day (Tuesday), accompanied by the President of the RHS and other members of the royal family. The BBC usually covers the horticultural show on specials every day. The entry ticket was £ 55 in 2013. Journalist John Vidal called the exhibition "Nature for the 1%".

The exhibitions in the context of this garden show are also of international importance. Show gardens were designed by different Commonwealth countries and foreign rulers (Zayid bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Emir of Abu Dhabi and President of the United Arab Emirates , by Christopher Bradley-Hole , 2005) and international fashion houses ( Yves Saint Laurent 1997, Marrakech Garden; Chanel , 1998). Many Commonwealth countries exhibit plants and gardens, and in 2013 an Australian garden won the first prize for the first time. However, designers from countries outside of the former British Empire rarely take part. The French company Cayeux has been exhibiting its beard irises in Chelsea since 2004 . Many British designers, such as Dan Pearson, also reject the format of the exhibition with the extremely expensive, artificial and unsustainable show gardens that can only be seen for five days. A variety of tricks are used to get the plants to bloom “in time”, including the use of blow dryers and cooled greenhouses. They are planted extremely densely, which in reality would be detrimental to their thriving, although horticultural knowledge is part of the evaluation criteria.

Large newspapers, first the Times (1959, "Garden of Tomorrow" with remote-controlled lawnmowers), later also the Daily Telegraph ), television stations and industrial organizations (such as the " Cement and Concrete Organization " of the Prince of Wales (Persian Carpet Garden) and Harry of Wales ( Lesotho Garden with the aid organization Sentebale , designer Jinny Bloom) financed exhibitions. Show gardens are only occasionally rebuilt in other locations after the exhibition, but plants and individual elements are often recycled.

In 2015, the RHS made one of the show gardens on the main path available to the winner of a BBC series ("Great Chelsea Garden Challenge"). This populist measure was widely criticized, but the Queen and Prince Charles and their wife visited the garden designed by the nurse Sean Murray from Ashington . The RHS estimates the flower show has direct and indirect sales of £ 200 million.

Trivia

  • The most expensive garden was sponsored by Chanel in 1998 , it contained a copy of the Venus Medici made of 24 carat gold.
  • In 2008 James May laid out a garden out of modeling clay, for which he received a special modeling clay award.
  • For a while, the Grand Marquee was the largest tent in the world. It consisted of 512 strips of canvas and weighed 65 tons. The construction took 20 days. After it had to be renewed in 2000, the canvas was made into 7000 bags and aprons.
  • The B&Q Tower, designed by Laurie Chetwood and Patrick Collins, was the tallest garden building on display in Chelsea at 9 meters. It was only equipped with edible plants and solar cells and won a gold medal in 2011.
  • The company Hillier won the most awards with so far 67 gold medals in a row.
  • Dan Pearson only received a gold-plated silver medal (3rd prize) in 2004 for his exhibition garden because it contained too much recycled material. After that, Pearson stayed away from the exhibition for eleven years.

literature

  • Brent Elliot, RHS Chelsea Flower Show: A centenary Celebration. London, Frances Lincoln 2013.
  • Chris Young, Take Chelsea Home. Practical Inspiration from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Royal Horticultural Society. Mitchell Beazley, Octopus Group 2010.

Web links

Commons : Chelsea Flower Show  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richard Drayton, 'Lindley, John (1799–1865)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 accessed 15 Oct 2013
  2. ↑ a b c Ambra Edwards, Centenary Chelsea. A look at the hights (and occasional lows) of 100 years at the Chelsea Flower Show. Gradens Illustrated May 2013, 56
  3. ^ A b Anne Gatti, RHS Chelsea Flower Show Then ... and Now. The English Garden, Spring 2013, 17
  4. ↑ a b Ambra Edwards, Centenary Chelsea. A look at the hights (and occasional lows) of 100 years at the Chelsea Flower Show. Gradens Illustrated May 2013, 58
  5. ↑ However, it does not seem certain whether they were present in 1923, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/73a64480-c1fd-11e2-ab66-00144feab7de.html#axzz2Vjjm9wfP
  6. ↑ a b The Guardian Weekend, May 11, 2013, 45
  7. ^ A b Anne Gatti, RHS Chelsea Flower Show Then ... and Now. The English Garden, Spring 2013, 18
  8. ↑ a b c The Guardian Weekend, May 11, 2013, 47
  9. ↑ brightly colored mythical creatures, Wesley Kerr, Flower Power. The Guardian Weekend May 11, 2013, 39
  10. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2009/may/19/chelsea-flower-show-mcvicar-gnome-borage-gardens
  11. ^ The Guardian Weekend, May 11, 2013, 34
  12. ↑ Jon Pryn, designers Pearson bridges the years with best in show award at Chelsea. Evening Standard, May 19, 2015, Jan.
  13. ^ A b c Anne Gatti, RHS Chelsea Flower Show Then ... and Now. The English Garden, Spring 2013, 20
  14. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / socalhistory.org
  15. ^ A b c Anne Gatti, RHS Chelsea Flower Show Then ... and Now. The English Garden, Spring 2013, 19
  16. ↑ a b c d http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/6088c09c-b7fa-11e2-bd62-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2Vjjm9wfP
  17. ↑ Andy McIndoe, The Floral Countdown. The English Garden, Spring 2013, 27
  18. ↑ a b Ann Marie Powell, A taste of things to come. The English Garden, Spring 2013, 53
  19. ↑ a b Wesley Kerr, Flower Power. The Guardian Weekend, May 11, 2013, 37
  20. ↑ a b The English Garden, Spring 2013, 11
  21. ↑ Chris Young, Take Chelsea Home. Practical Inspiration from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Royal Horticultural Society. Mitchell Beazley, Octopus Group 2010, Jan.
  22. ^ The English Garden, Spring 2013, 10
  23. ↑ a b Ann Marie Powell, A taste of things to come. The English Garden, Spring 2013, 52
  24. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from May 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rhs.org.uk
  25. ↑ http://www.shootgardening.co.uk/article/the-daily-telegraph-garden-best-in-show
  26. ↑ Chris Young, Take Chelsea Home. Practical Inspiration from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Royal Horticultural Society. London, Mitchell Beazley, Octopus Group 2010, 79
  27. ↑ a b Guardian, May 22, 2013, 5
  28. ↑ Janet Waymark 2003. Modern garden design. Innovation since 1900. London, Thames and Hudson, 174
  29. ↑ Plant of the Year 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2016 .
  30. ^ Plant of the Year winners. Retrieved May 29, 2016 .
  31. ↑ RHS Chelsea Plant of the Year 2016. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 29, 2016 ; Retrieved May 29, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / press.rhs.org.uk
  32. ↑ http://www.itv.com/news/2013-04-22/public-to-vote-for-top-plant-in-chelsea-shows-100-year-history/
  33. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from May 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rhs.org.uk
  34. ^ Guardian Weekend May 11, 2013, 42
  35. ↑ Jacky Hobbs, Vive la differance. The English Garden, Spring 2013, 44
  36. ↑ a b Jon Pryn, Designer Pearson bridges the years with best in show award at Chelsea. Evening Standard, May 19, 2015, May 11
  37. ↑ Chris Young, Take Chelsea Home. Practical Inspiration from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Royal Horticultural Society. London, Mitchell Beazley, Octopus Group 2010, 52-53
  38. ↑ John Brookes, Garden Masterclass. London, Dorling Kindley 2002, 208
  39. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2015/gcgc-winner
  40. ↑ http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/ashingtons-sean-murray-earns-royal-9288104
  41. ^ Wesley Kerr, Flower Power. The Guardian Weekend, May 11, 2013, 39
  42. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/may/10/food-gardens

Coordinates: 51 ° 29 ′ 11 "  N , 0 ° 9 ′ 28"  W.