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Back in the swinging sixties,&nbsp;London was the global&nbsp;hub for flower power, the&nbsp;hippyesque philosophy&nbsp;that encouraged an entire&nbsp;generation to tune in and&nbsp;drop out. Today, the UK capital&nbsp;is better known for its global financial interests&nbsp;and inability to exit the EU anytime soon, yet its&nbsp;floral associations persist, both pre-dating the&nbsp;bohemian beatnik era and lingering to this very day&nbsp;in the unique shape, of course, of the one and only&nbsp;Chelsea Flower Show.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45470" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Flower-collage2-copy.jpg" alt="Chelsea Flower Show" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Flower-collage2-copy.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Flower-collage2-copy-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Flower-collage2-copy-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Flower-collage2-copy-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Flower-collage2-copy-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Flower-collage2-copy-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Flower-collage2-copy-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
Now in its 157th year, the prestigious and&nbsp;ultra-competitive event is a not just a highlight of&nbsp;horticultural calendars the world over, but also&nbsp;the ultimate eye-spy session, offering observers&nbsp;the chance to spot a veritable who’s who of British&nbsp;high society, including the ultimate prize – Queen&nbsp;Elizabeth II herself.
With more than 170,000 visitors expected to&nbsp;turn up in person this year (and countless millions&nbsp;tuning in televisually), there couldn’t be a better&nbsp;time to catch up on some of the lesser-known facts&nbsp;about this five-day panoply of all things petalled…
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45471" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Members-Day-London.jpg" alt="Chelsea Flower Show" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Members-Day-London.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Members-Day-London-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Members-Day-London-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Members-Day-London-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Members-Day-London-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Members-Day-London-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Members-Day-London-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
A CHARITABLE ENDEAVOUR – Since the very beginning, the&nbsp;Chelsea Flower Show has been organised by the Royal Horticultural&nbsp;Society (RHS), the UK’s largest gardening charity, which was itself&nbsp;founded in 1804 and now boasts more than half a million members.&nbsp;While you might be forgiven for assuming that this flamboyant flower&nbsp;fair is the biggest in the RHS’ repertoire, it is, in fact, outdone by the&nbsp;Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. Aside from these premier league&nbsp;events, the organisation hosts several other floral festivals, with all&nbsp;proceeds distributed to worthy horticultural causes around the country.
THE GREAT SPRING SHOW – The Chelsea Flower Show actually&nbsp;debuted in 1862, albeit under a different name – the Great Spring&nbsp;Show. The whole of this inaugural outing was housed within a single tent&nbsp;at the long-since-demolished RHS garden in Kensington, with the same&nbsp;setting having been previously used for the Great Exhibition of 1851.&nbsp;It cost roughly £150,000 in today’s money to hold, while the resulting&nbsp;profits – roughly £4,000 today – were split between various budding&nbsp;good causes.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45472" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-7.jpg" alt="Chelsea Flower Show" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-7.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-7-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-7-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-7-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-7-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-7-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-7-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
ROYAL PATRONAGE – Since day one, the Chelsea Flower Show has&nbsp;attracted the crème de la crème of British society. Queen Elizabeth II, a&nbsp;Patron of the RHS, has attended all but 12 shows during the course of&nbsp;her 67-year reign. Among the other sitting monarchs who have popped&nbsp;in to peruse a petal or two are King George VI (the Queen’s father),&nbsp;King George V (her grandfather) and Queen Alexandra (her greatgrandmother).&nbsp;Inevitably, one or two foreign potentates also managed to&nbsp;duck the wire and slip in, including Empress Marie, mother of the ill-fated&nbsp;Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
CANCELLATIONS&#8230; – Through its century-and-a-half run, the&nbsp;show has occasionally skipped a year or two. In 1926, the show was very&nbsp;nearly cancelled – due to the General Strike – but ultimately opened its&nbsp;doors a week late. Several actual cancellations did occur though, most&nbsp;notably during WWI and WWII. During the latter, the show’s grounds were&nbsp;requisitioned by the War Office as an anti-aircraft facility.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45473" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-6.jpg" alt="Chelsea Flower Show" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-6.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-6-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-6-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-6-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-6-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-6-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Press-RHS-Chelsea-Flower-Show-2018-Press-Day-London-6-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
&#8230; AND CONTROVERSIES – It’s fair to say the show has had its&nbsp;fair share of controversies. In 1927, for instance, a campaign advocating&nbsp;banning foreign exhibitors attracted considerable support. Ultimately,&nbsp;the RHS rejected such calls on the grounds that “horticulture knows&nbsp;nothing of nationality”. In 1994, horticulturist Paul Cooper also caused&nbsp;some consternation when hidden air jets in his display blew up the skirts&nbsp;of unsuspecting female passersby.
RECORD-BREAKER – For decades, the most iconic part of the&nbsp;show was the Grand Marquee, a single outdoor tent that housed the&nbsp;majority of the exhibits each year. First introduced in 1951, this enormous&nbsp;3.5-acre structure was listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the&nbsp;world’s largest tent. When it was finally retired in 2000 – in favour of &nbsp;new indoor Great Pavilion – its then-surplus-to-requirements fabric was&nbsp;thoughtfully recycled into 7,000 aprons, jackets and bags.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-45474" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Untitled-1.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Untitled-1.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Untitled-1-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Untitled-1-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Untitled-1-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Untitled-1-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Untitled-1-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Untitled-1-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />
GNOME NO-NO – Ceramic gnomes – those plucky garden-dwelling&nbsp;figurines that are believed to bring good luck – were wholly banned from&nbsp;the Chelsea Flower Show until 2013. That was the year when a special&nbsp;parade of 150 gnomes – all individually painted (and&nbsp;personalised by such famous UK figures as Sir Elton&nbsp;John, Mary Berry and Joanna Lumley) – were presented&nbsp;to Queen Elizabeth II. Unfortunately, the ban has since&nbsp;been reinstated, though many gardeners secretly&nbsp;confide that they still smuggle in a few of the little fellas&nbsp;regardless.
GARDENING WORLD CUP – While it’s all too&nbsp;easy to be distracted by the glitz and glamour of the&nbsp;Chelsea Flower Show, the many exhibitors are only&nbsp;too aware that is actually one of the most fiercelycontested&nbsp;horticultural competitions in the world and&nbsp;colloquially dubbed the ‘World Cup of Gardening’. Only&nbsp;after months of gruelling preparation, stiff competition&nbsp;and exacting judging standards can any participant hope&nbsp;to be crowned as the winner of the Best Show Garden&nbsp;accolade, making them – arguably – the King or Queen&nbsp;of All Things Green.
Text: <a href="mailto:tenzing@itotalmedia.com">Tenzing Thondup</a> 
Photos: RHS

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Floret Trivia: Little known facts about the Chelsea Flower Show