Garden fanciers the world over look
To Britain’s Chelsea Flower Show

Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London, SW3
22-25 May 2001

As it enters its 113^th year this May, the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show finds itself again at the cutting edge. After all, this is the show that first introduced bonsai to Europe (in 1913) and instituted the custom of encouraging horticulturalists and garden suppliers to make the show the place to announce new plants and products.

The buzz this year is completion of two new floral display pavilions to replace the great canvas pavilion that had served the show for 90 years. Made of lightweight plastic that require less rigging and admit more light, the new pavilions considerably increase the number of exhibits that can be accommodated, as well as the size of plants.

The show builds on a world-famous tradition of gardening inspired by the natural patterns of the English countryside – a profusion of flowers and plants, seemingly haphazard at first glance, rambling and tumbling along streams, or fences or walls. But in Chelsea’s famous outside show gardens, which numbered 23 last year, an increasing number of more formal or abstract designs have appeared in recent years.

This year, look for designs from sources as disparate as Japan and the United Arab Emirates. Because exhibitors can pull out the stops with their show gardens, many of them experiment with new combinations of plants or shapes, as well as new technology.

Though English weather in May can be notoriously temperamental, Chelsea usually draws more than 200,000 visitors during its short four-day run. Exhibitors are up to the challenge, though – some equip themselves with hair dryers to dry off wet spots of concrete in their gardens.
— Patrick Totty