RHS Chelsea 2016

[shovetheholly]

We're nearly at that time!

Is anyone lucky enough to be going? I've always wanted to, but it's SO expensive!

What will the highlights be this year, do you think?

What I would really, really like is a glossy magazine with loads of photos and a plan of each garden. Then I could see how each of the 'bits' of the garden fit together as I religiously watch every second of coverage on TV.

[AnthonyPandy]

I would like all of that too but online so it's free!

[funnyperson]

Well I am going and it will therefore probably rain

[MrsJamin]

I'm going! So excited.

[AnthonyPandy]

Last year my favourite garden was the natural woodland type one that ended up at Chatsworth I think. But I hated the two brothers with the moving shed. That was just silly.

[AnthonyPandy]

And I also liked the front garden done by the man who won a competition.

[shovetheholly]

at Anthony's descriptions. It was Dan Pearson's stony one that went to Chatsworth, I think? He is a God amongst men, that fella.

I am SO jealous of you guys with tickets! Do report back and let me enjoy it vicariously!!

There's an A-Z of this year's gardens here: www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/exhibitors?ExhibitorType=1

[TeaPleaseBob]

There was an app last year that had the various gardens shown with lots of photos (can't remember if they had the actual designs though sorry!)

[shovetheholly]

Ooooh, I hope there's an app this year! I couldn't find anything on the app store, but I am not initiated in the ways of the Mac.

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

Garden answers did Chelsea special that showed plans of the gardens
Big magazine

[funnyperson]

I'm sharing our current game plan for the day, would be interested in other peoples plans

firstly have not booked expensive (£78) brunch, corporate dinner (£300) or pop up dorchester floral tea (too expensive for the price to be in the public domain)

secondly have provided self with pull along old lady's trolley from sabichi to house plant or other purchases

will be wearing birkenstocks and something floral

will start at crack of dawn arriving at gates by 7.45 and gently make way to artisan gardens. will then stop for first break & refreshments at ranelagh picnic area.

will then observe main show gardens and stop for a second break and map reading while everyone else arrives

we will go to the loo and make our way to the marquee if raining, the 'fresh' gardens if not.we will then stop for a late lunch

has anyone else any other ideas for a stress free day?

[traviata]

Pimms. Probably at around 11am?

have a lovely day, I am .

[funnyperson]

Dont be it is probably my last time, and I'm not even sure how much of it i'll actually manage to get to see. It isnt as manageable as Hampton Court. It is my third time now as I used to be put off by the tv pictures of crowds but I was bowled over the first time I went and now I am so excited I cant sleep and there are a few days to go! I wish I could take my whole family but it isn't really wheelchair friendly unless yo have someone with serious muscle and also the pavilion floor is muddy and hard to push a wheelchair across.

[shovetheholly]

Oh funny I hope you have the best possible day! It sounds lovely. I am at the food prices though!!

[funnyperson]

shove i couldnt agree with you more about food prices though the prices I quoted above are for sit down meals booked in advance.
There are lots of food stalls with much cheaper food, which is what we will be getting, but no guarantee of getting to sit at a table, which can be very tiring if one is not 100%.

For the fit and healthy it is of course all rather fun and bohemian especially if the sun is shining! Last year a friend and I sat on one of the stone walls of that wonderful Chatsworth inspired rock garden eating icecream and looking at the beautiful layout of it - the azalea lutea and the lychnis and the black stemmed irises - it was stunning!

[SugarPlumTree]

When I went 2 or 3 years ago we got a hot drink and a Danish for £4.50 which made a pleasant break. As the weather was nice we sat outside listening to some of the music for a bit which was very pleasant.

Getting into the marquee before a deluge is important as people were stuck out in the rain queuing to get in so I'd say head off there at the first sign of bad weather.

Hope you all have a lovely day.

[HaveYouSeenHerLately]

Mum and I are going for the first time on Friday! Day tickets were sold out so we're doing the 3:30pm-close slot. I hope we have enough time

Does anyone know what the queues are likely to be like for 3:30pm admission? Mum wants to have a leisurely lunch whereas I think we ought to arrive early We're collecting our tickets there.

The forecast looks decidedly mixed

[NotYoda]

I've been three times. It's bloody knackering but quite a special day.

If you go early, have breakfast there, then you can get a look at some of it before it gets too busy

The flower marquee is just gorgeous, and I actually like the small gardens almost more.

[quince2figs]

Sounds brilliant. I always watch avidly on tv, but had no idea there was an app - to investigate!
I'm planning to get a ticket for the last day of Tatton Park garden show. My birthday is the day before, so this is my present to my self to go alone ( DH not into gardening; if took dcs they would be bored and I would not get to see all I want). Plant sell-off at 4pm too!!!

[shovetheholly]

I'm also watching avidly on TV. Coverage started yesterday but they weren't showing too much of the gardens - a lot of muddy holes being dug during preparation and a lot of slightly panicky pavilion stallholders.

They did show the frankly ridiculous Harrods English Eccentrics garden working, though. Bonkers. Absolutely bonkers. And I bet it cost a mint too. Also, the Telegraph garden was featured which looked impressive - looking forward to seeing more of that one.

The RHS seem to be making an effort with more inner-city engagement and attracting people who aren't white and rich, which can only be a good thing!

[funnyperson]

I think it is nice they are making a big effort to be more diverse. One year I went and didnt see a single non-white face all day, not even behind the food counters.
Jo Swift seems a bit put out by the inclusion of black females though. And it took him all of two programmes before he had an on screen tiff with Monty.
The mens suits are interesting. James Wong is the most elegant with a tie pin and handkerchief and tailor made suit. Monty's suit is, I think, probably linen but it doesn't fit him. Toby Buckland refuses to wear a suit at all.
I'm really nervous about going. There seems such a lot to see, its a bit overwhelming.

[funnyperson]

Maybe now that my own little garden is so nice to be in, I don't need to go to Chelsea any more. Yes, I think this will be my last year.

[HumphreyCobblers]

Oh have a lovely time funnyperson

[shovetheholly]

Have a lovely time funny - I will be thinking of you!

So far, I am wowed by the very two gardens that the presenters have picked out: Cleve West's and Andy Sturgeon's. Personally, I think I like the former best, but I have to admire the latter more technically: the use of colour and shadow is really subtle and beautiful- not often we see the latter in gardens. Surprised by Jo Thompson's effort, which appeared on the TV to have positively acres of lawn.

I have to admit, I am frustrated by the 'modern slavery' garden. This is not a personal beef with the garden or its design but a much, much more general complaint: I feel like sometimes the full range of what gardens can do in terms of messaging isn't really used at Chelsea, and there is something almost disrespectful about using beautiful planting for such a hideous subject. So often there isn't the same attempt to move you in the same way that great architecture can (I'm thinking here of something like Liebeskind's Jewish Museum in Berlin where a sense of dislocation, discomfort even agony is operationalised to get you as the viewer to think more deeply about the holocaust). And yet gardens don't lack the capacity to deal with difficult political and social issues beyond the merely pretty (Little Sparta taught me that). They can be as complex as any work of art, and as challenging. It's just we hardy ever see that at RHS shows, even in the supposedly-wacky small gardens. I find that a bit of a shame.

(Having said that, I absolutely LOVE the 'Antithesis of Sarcophagi' garden-in-a-cube. That is precisely the kind of thoughtful, clever thing that I'd like more of!!)

[Hiahia]

Hi there...

I'm a budding gardener and don't watch much TV but want to follow Chelsea more closely this year...
Would you be able to tell me where/what you prefer to watch to see the best coverage?

thanking you ladies kindly.

[shovetheholly]

I just set the Tivo to record everything - it picks up the lot. There is an afternoon show with James Wong and a slightly annoying blonde woman who seems to have no connection to gardening, and an evening show with Monty Don and Joe Swift and Carol Klein and another slightly annoying, slightly posher blonde woman who also seems to have no connection to gardening. It's like they don't think the gardeners can be trusted by themselves.

Here's a list of the TV slots:

www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/2016/Articles/bbc-tv-coverage