I have always wanted to go to Chelsea Flower Show, it’s so quintessentially English, and who wouldn’t want to spend the day walking through gorgeous flower displays?! Well this year, thanks to some very talented clients participating in the show who got us some tickets, I was lucky enough to go and see what all the fuss was about. Spoiler-it’s a gardeners dream. 
I guess I knew there would be a lot of flowers, it’s a flower show, but I was super surprised at the sheer number of different varieties, and even more shocked at my knowledge of flowers that seemingly came out of nowhere. Sarah joined me at the event and luckily she wanted to take as many photos as I did so I didn’t feel so bad snapping away. It was so nice to get to see her before she makes the big move to Singapore soon as well! The hazard of making expat friends, they travel travel travel. 
These are Heucheras, Heucherellas and Tiariellas, which I’ve only recently become enamoured with since doing some work for Plantagogo. Vicky and Richard are absolutely lovely people who sell their plants online as well as out of their nursery during open days. They got a gold medal for their plants and display at Chelsea, and I could see why, their plants are gorgeous and very well cared for. If you want to go shop for some of these hardy easy to grow plants check out their website. I want them allll! I especially love how brightly coloured the leaves are even before the flowers shoot up. 
Another client, Harts Nursery won a gold medal for their stunning lilies. I never even knew there were so many different kinds! 
I learned how to properly care for cut tulips at Bloms Bulbs cut flower display. Apparently tulips like fresh water every day, and if there’s any whiteness on the ends of the stems, make sure to cut it off so the stem is a healthy uniformed colour to best suck up the water. Also, if they start to droop, give them fresh water and wrap them in stiff brown paper overnight and in the morning unwrap them and they will be standing up again. I’m willing to give tulips a try again, because I love them in my home but I’ve always killed them off within a couple days! 
Another client (from Doncaster where I live!) Taylor’s Clematis won flower of the year for this new variety ‘koreana Amber’ with it’s pretty white-yellow flowers. 
I tried my hardest to get the amount of photos down, but I took 300! Everywhere you looked was something pretty or interesting or both, it was a photographers dream. I’ve narrowed it down to under 100 though so I’ll share the outside exhibits and artwork later.
Would I recommend Chelsea Flower Show? Yes. While the entrance prices are a bit steep I think, if you’re into flowers and gardening it’s such a cool event. There are also smaller garden shows throughout the year around England, which tend to be quite a bit cheaper where you can still go and get your flower fixes. Most of the nurseries who had exhibits at Chelsea also do many of the other shows. I’d like to go to the one in Harrogate as I’ve heard it’s good and it’s quite close to home.
Have you ever been to Chelsea Flower Show or anything like it?
