For one year only, the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show 2021 has moved to September! How has the change of date affected this event? Moving from a late spring show to an early autumn spectacle has opened Chelsea’s door to allow new VIP (very important plant) access for late summer flowering perennials, berries, seed heads, dahlias, pumpkins, tomatoes, and vegetables!
A highlight of the horticultural calendar, the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show runs from Tuesday 21st May 2019, to Saturday 25th May 2019.
In preparation for the show, over the past three weeks, award winning garden designers, together with their teams, made up of some of the best landscape architects, project managers, builders, technicians, horticulturalists, artists, and crafts people, have been working tirelessly to transform the Royal Hospital’s grounds at Chelsea, into a plant filled oasis.
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant Of The Year Award was first presented in 2010 to promote and celebrate the continuing work of breeders and nurseries in producing improved new plants. The RHS Chelsea Plant Of The Year Award celebrates and recognises the exciting and diverse range of new plants which are launched at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show, every year.
I am always hoping to meet a new favourite plant at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, but as well as plants, I enjoy finding some of my favourite people at Chelsea. Jonathan Hogarth is one of my favourites; he’s utterly bonkers about Hostas! Jonathan holds a National Collection of Miniature Hostas, he also runs Hogarth Hostas – a specialist Hosta nursery.
I always look forward to seeing Jonathan Hogarth and his beautiful displays of miniature Hostas at the RHS Chelsea and Hampton Court Flower Shows, so it was especially nice to have a chance to have a proper catch up with Jonathan this week; Jonathan has given me special permission to share his very best, tried and tested, Hosta growing tips with you!
Plant Heritage are a plant conservation charity, based in Guildford, that encourage horticulturists, botanists, and gardeners to grow, propagate, share, and conserve a wide range of plants to protect and safeguard the variety of plants we have available to grow and enjoy. This year, Plant Heritage are celebrating their 40th anniversary, so to mark the occasion they asked garden designer Jackie Currie to create an exhibit for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018, to publicise the value of Plant Heritage’s work.
The highlight of the horticultural calendar, The Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show is the world’s most prestigious flower show! Over the past three weeks, award winning garden designers from all over the world, together with their teams, made up of some of the best landscape architects, project managers, builders, technicians, horticulturalists, artists and crafts people, have been working solidly to transform the Royal Hospital’s grounds at Chelsea into an oasis of gardening ideas and inspiration!
I love to visit the Grand Pavilion at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show! This vast arena, which extends to almost three acres in size, is filled with super exhibits created by around one hundred specialist nurseries during the week of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. It’s such a joy to visit! If you’re looking for some new plants, and you don’t have a particular variety or species in mind, visiting specialist nurseries, or enjoying a day out at a specialist plant fair, or a flower show, such as the RHS Chelsea Flower Show or the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, can help to connect you with your new favourite plant or plants!
It may surprise you to know that in the garden, as well as on the catwalk, fashions change and evolve, often quicker than we expect. A plant that’s regarded as a ‘must have’ plant one minute, can soon be taken for granted and neglected, before being cast aside to make way for the latest modern plant introductions, when the superseded ‘must have’ plant is then at risk of being forgotten, often within a shorter time period than you might anticipate.
Jonathan Hogarth of Hogarth Hostas holds a National Collection of Small and Miniature Hostas. In 2016 Jonathan exhibited his Hosta collection at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, where the RHS judges presented him with a Silver-Gilt Medal, and at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, where Jonathan was presented with a Gold Medal and the Best Plant Heritage Exhibit by the RHS judges.
The RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show features an array of award winning specialist nurseries, this is a fabulous place to buy plants! Whether you’re looking for South African plants, hardy plants, drought tolerant plants, indoor plants, air plants, orchids, ferns, ivy, clematis, herbaceous perennials, bulbous plants, or succulents, you’re sure to find your favourite at this special show!
The Royal Horticultural Society’s Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, supported by Viking Cruises, is the world’s largest annual flower show! This family orientated Show covers 34 acres of ground, occupying both sides of the Long Water, in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace.
This year Garden Designer Juliet Sargeant has designed the RHS Kitchen Garden, which has been created to showcase a number of innovative methods used to grow edible plants.
I so enjoyed catching up with Jonathan Hogarth, from Hogarth Hostas, at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2016, where the RHS judges awarded the Hogarth Hostas exhibit a Silver-Gilt Medal.
PB: Hello Jonathan, your stand looks absolutely lovely, congratulations! I wondered if you have any tips that I could share with my readers for growing miniature Hostas?
HH: …You see, the more heat you put into a plant, it’ll look rubbish this year, but next year it’ll be twice the size.
Every year at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, you’ll find a wealth of plant knowledge and expertise inside the Great Pavilion, where specialist nurseries, expert growers, and plants people, come together from all over the world, to showcase some of the special plants they grow and love.
Here’s a look at some of the nurseries and exhibits that were inside The Great Pavilion, at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2016…….
The Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show is the world’s most prestigious flower show. Award winning garden designers from all over the world, together with their teams, made up of some of the best landscape architects, project managers, builders, technicians, horticulturalists, artists and crafts people, have been working for the past three weeks to turn The Royal Hospital’s grounds at Chelsea into a sea of gardening ideas and innovation.
