Chelsea flower show

Hampton Court Flower Show is not on this year - back in 2027!
It is being held in Badminton this year.

I'm just thrilled to see gnomes are being allowed this year

merlotgran

Without the glitz, glamour, celebrities, TV coverage and royal patronage the growers and showers wouldn’t be able to get their own financial support and firms like Landrover wouldn’t spend millions in sponsorship.
Everyone wants a return on their investment.

I’m so thankful that although Chelsea has become a commercial giant I get the chance to watch the extensive coverage from the comfort of my armchair

I agree, a lot of the celebrities are genuinely keen on gardens and if that encourages others, all well and good.
I laughed at Monica Galetti's comment that she loved gardening but her garden didn't always love her!
Long may Chelsea conitinue

REKA

I'm just thrilled to see gnomes are being allowed this year

I was in a hardware shop this morning and the assistants said they were constantly being asked for gnomes today!!

I laughed at Monica Galetti's comment that she loved gardening but her garden didn't always love her!

I enjoyed that, too. Know the feeling, Monica!

Allira

Hampton Court Flower Show is not on this year - back in 2027!
It is being held in Badminton this year.

Yes, I think the RHS are trying to get more shows to places further afield.
I went to the Sandringham Flower show last year, and in fact did meet Charles purely by chance!
It was very much a local flower show and was charming. This year it’s been taken over by the RHS, I’m not going, but I wonder how it will be perceived.

I went with a friend last year, free tickets as another friend is an exhibitor, tbh I preferred Hampton Court which I went to the previous year. I will go to Badminton though just to see how it is and I did pop into Malvern Spring Show on the last day. It was incredibly cold and the best thing was the Floral tent. However, many of the small specialist growers won't be there next year as they have to be completely peat free. Sadly, they have been struggling (just like us) to find a good peat free medium and it's given them big problems so they have decided not to adopt a peat free growing completely. The floral tent won't be the same although many of the growers have started or joined a group called NEO and hopefully they will still be at shows that are not RHS ones.

Excellent news, MartavTaurus!

Susiewong65

Sadly I think the BBC has ruined it in so many ways making it overly commercial and in return rather elitist and expensive.
They’ve done the same to the Malvern show which was a reasonable price to enter when I used to visit many years ago.
It had a lovely vibe to it.
The small growers were a joy to do business with but then along came the BBC and hijacked it.
The small nurseries were priced out and it became expensive so I stopped going.

How has the BBC made the Chelsea show overly commercial or "hijacked " anything?

I went last year my eldest Grandson treated me and came with me. The gardens were wonderful but I found it hard to relate to my own patch of garden everything looked complicated and expensive. The queues for food or even a cuppa were long but I did enjoy the day.

I'm a bit jealous; we don't have any flower shows here! We have the BC Home and Garden show, but it's in February, all indoors, and is more of a exhibition by home builders than an actual garden show.

Our local garden club has an annual tour and tea that I look forward to. For your ticket, they give you a map to local gardens, where the owners host a small tour, then finish up with a tea at one of the houses. It is informal and it is nice to see local gardens and chat with the owners. They usually do 5 or 6 local gardens, and you go at your leisure.

CanadianGran

I'm a bit jealous; we don't have any flower shows here! We have the BC Home and Garden show, but it's in February, all indoors, and is more of a exhibition by home builders than an actual garden show.

Our local garden club has an annual tour and tea that I look forward to. For your ticket, they give you a map to local gardens, where the owners host a small tour, then finish up with a tea at one of the houses. It is informal and it is nice to see local gardens and chat with the owners. They usually do 5 or 6 local gardens, and you go at your leisure.

We do this here too and I have visited some lovely, and unusual, local gardens.

MartavTaurus

Is the thought that ticket prices aren't dissimilar to those of a London theatre ticket? You can stay all day at the flower show if you have the more expensive ticket, I think.

The new alliums from Holland were pretty.
The gynae cancer garden was well thought out and a relaxing space.

A gold medal for the Lady Garden. 🏅
"Silent no more".
A sad story behind it, but inspirational.

£122 per ticket- I had a look and decided not to bother- with return travel, meals etc it would have been a very expensive day out. Went to Hampton Coutr once, it was heaving, and an extremely hot day- we took refuge in the walled garden which was as a bit cooler!

Chelsea was on my list of must dos before I was forty. We went on a coach trip which was very affordable (but this was over 30 years ago), with entrance included. It also included a day in Stratford.

As several have said, Autumn, J52, Jax and Witzend, Chelsea does get crowded beyond belief (just see the masses when the BBC coverage is on their raised platform!).

I went once, it's a hot, crowded, expensive day, and I wouldn't go again, but the best advice (I gather) is to get there as the gates open (so, as the crack of dawn goes out of earshot?!) and get round while you can still see things without a football crowd in the way -- and when I went, bouncers shoving you past stalls to get a move on and ease the queues!

For those blaming the BBC for price rises, that is SUCH an ill-informed attack! The RHS governs prices, and sadly they saw that the whole shebang gets a massive attendance, and moved the prices as per market forces. Given that squillions are STILL willing to pay very silly money, AND endure conditions that prisoner welfare groups would likely complain about, I doubt that they'll be reducing those prices anytime soon?!!

Some have mentioned other shows that are likely better value, and more room to move?! In the past, when on holiday up there, we've visited Harrogate, and Tatton Park, also Shrewsbury -- though I think that one has bitten the dust ("rocketing costs"), shame, as it's a nice town to visit.

A quick Google/AI search suggested alternative shows at Harrogate, Tatton (next is 2027), Hampton Court (ditto), Sandringham, Windsor and Badminton, with a little mention of Arley Hall (?), and Wentworth Woodhouse (never heard of it before!). Also I see a mention of Malvern, Blenheim Palace (careful, traffic is bonkers!), and Southport.

However, that famous new AI tool belied the 'I' part of the name, as it put up Shrewsbury, which is NOT running this year, and may struggle to return, it seems, they'd need to raise prices and upset people, to cover costs!

I find that the television coverage concentrates on two or three gardens and gives scant coverage to the rest. I have been to the show twice, both times it was heaving, nowhere to sit, restaurants full with long queues and some gardens inaccessible due to filming. I watch it from home now, but it’s a lovely atmosphere there.

I didn’t know that they’d held an RHS flower show at Wentworth Woodhouse last year or I would have gone -it’s on my doorstep. Worth a visit if only to see what they have done with the house. Despite its success last year, it is not being held there this year. They held one at Chatsworth not so long ago too.

8-12 July – RHS Badminton Flower Show
22-26 July – RHS Sandringham Flower Show

I agree with Redcar in that there is nowhere to sit. We went once and had to sit on the ground. Altogether too crowded for me. I’d rather spend my money on the Open Garden scheme.

Allira

^They’ve done the same to the Malvern show which was a reasonable price to enter when I used to visit many years ago.^
A ticket costs less than £30.

Taunton Flower show has tickets for £20 and £17 if you're near there.
Badminton Flower Show from £35

Are you near Taunton? Apparently the flower show has been struggling financially for some years and this may be the last unless it gets more support (footfall). Whenever I have been it has felt too crowded!

I wish he would wear a decent suit. At least Rachel has smartened up and the women have put a little makeup on.

Sleepyhead52

Allira

They’ve done the same to the Malvern show which was a reasonable price to enter when I used to visit many years ago.
A ticket costs less than £30.

Taunton Flower show has tickets for £20 and £17 if you're near there.
Badminton Flower Show from £35

Are you near Taunton? Apparently the flower show has been struggling financially for some years and this may be the last unless it gets more support (footfall). Whenever I have been it has felt too crowded!

It was on the local news and they said they were struggling, that's why I mentioned it. We're a distance away but it would be doable.

Delene100

I wish he would wear a decent suit. At least Rachel has smartened up and the women have put a little makeup on.

Do you mean Monty?
He wears a linen suit, I think.

He'd look out of place, not himself, if he wore a conventional suit and tie imo.

Monty looks fine. He has his own style - has done for ever. I like it.

Can you imagine him in a more structured suit😄😄. He’d look weird I think.