My First Visit To Chelsea Flower Show

Last Saturday, I was very excited to visit Chelsea Flower Show for the very first time.  It's something that I've wanted to do for a long time, but didn't really know how to go about buying tickets and just never got around to it.

Anyway, I was fortunate that a friend of mine managed to get hold of some tickets for the last Saturday and she very kindly invited me to go along with her.  I was thrilled.  We met at 9am to catch the tube from East London to Sloane Square. It didn't actually take too long, just one tube (and a bus for me) all the way there and before we knew it, we were making our way into the show.

I didn't realise, having not been before that wearing something floral is very popular amongst Chelsea show goers. I felt a bit dull in black and blue with white stripes, but even if I had known, I don't actually own anything floral at all.

Once in the showground we felt a little overwhelmed and didn't quite know where to go.  As a consequence, I ended up buying a show guide, which did help, although it was pretty expensive at £10.

We started off looking at some of the large medal winning show gardens. It was great to see them in the flesh so to speak, but there were crowds around them and you had to wait to get a good view. It was worth it though to see the exquisite planting and design features. Here's a few pictures:

Gold Medal Winner - Welcome to Yorkshire did remind me a lot of the Yorkshire Dales from our many visits there.

I also loved this garden, whose design was influenced by the plants that grow in Cornwall and the sculptures of Barbara Hepworth.

I also liked The Lemon Tree Garden which had a beautiful lemon tree as it's centre piece, beautiful planting and some good ideas for vertical vegetable gardening.

The hard landscaping and built features of some of the gardens were beautiful with wonderful outdoor rooms that just begged you to have a gathering.

I also liked some of the planting schemes. Lupins were very much in vogue this year.  In fact, I bought a couple of lupin plants for my friend, to thank her for bringing me along. It was the least I could do.

It was a sweltering hot day, and after an hour walking around outside, we escaped the heat by entering into the amazing world that is the Floral Pavillion. It was wonderful, one of the best things about the show.  The plants inside were so diverse and I found myself drawn to some of the more exotic species and exhibits on show.

Outside, we took a look at some of the lovely garden products available.  These bronze bird baths were particularly beautiful, but a little out of my price range.

There were some quirky sights, such as this amazing floral bar in a genuine vintage van.

As it was the last day of the show, at 4pm many of the plants were to be sold off. I pre-ordered a couple of plants from one stand, Hardy's, a cottage garden plant specialist.  The first was this lovely fern which I paid £10 for.  It was a great specimen and a good size to put in the garden at home.

I also bought one of these lovely white potentillas for £7 and another small fern for £1 from another stand.

I would have loved one of these beautiful white French lavenders, but unfortunately they were all reserved. It was so exquisite. Maybe next time.

We had a wonderful day out and armed with my plants and some seeds that I bought from one of the stalls in the pavillion, I was very happy to make my way home and take a little piece of Chelsea with me.