Our Obsession with the RHS Chelsea Flower Show

For over a hundred years, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show has attracted plant lovers, both expert & amateur gardeners, members of high society and the royal family to the gardens of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, for a festival of garden design & nature. Set in the 11 acres of the Royal Hospital Chelsea’s gardens, the show which is staged over five days sets the trends in garden design and plants for the year to come. Show Gardens are perhaps what the show is best known for, welcoming some of the biggest names in garden design to create a miniature garden which is then judged by the Royal Horticultural Society panel.

The RHS has been holding garden shows for many years, stretching as far back as 1833, when the first show was held in the society’s gardens at Chiswick. However since 1912, the show has been held in the grounds of the grand Royal Hospital Chelsea, home to the Chelsea Pensioners, famous for their historic scarlet uniforms. The institution was set up by King Charles II for retired veterans of the British Army. Today it is home to some 300 pensioners.

Our own King & Queen are known for their love of gardens, in the case of the King this is immortalised in his beloved Highgrove in Gloucestershire and Birkhall in Scotland. The Princess of Wales, designed a woodland garden for the show back in 2019, orientated around child development in nature. Her late Majesty the Queen was a stalwart supporter of the show, attending over 50 times during her life. Just this week our new King & Queen attended the show for the first time during King Charles’s reign, signalling the continued close bond between the show, the RHS & the royal family.