Chelsea Flower Show - BBC coverage

[Yamadori]

Is it just me, or has the BBC totally lost the plot? I'm currently watching this afternoon's coverage.

It's a flower show for crying out loud. I want to see the flowers, plants and gardens, not suffer endless wittering from the presenters and whatever slebs they can drag up.

I wasn’t keen on one section from Sunday being repeated another night. Love Monty and another vote for Chris Beardshaw. Not keen on Joe Swift, lots of waffle and little substance.

In my humble opinion - perhaps it's because MD is a celebrity gardener, and JS is a qualified one?

I went on Tuesday. I thought the gardens looked better on TV than they did from the sidelines. They were a bit samey this year. I still enjoyed it, though.

I can’t stand Monty, Joe or Carol, so the TV coverage has been a bit of a trial.

Yes, they're a bit samey. I love that they're pushing for more sustainable and wildlife friendly gardens but the results look more messy than usual and the show stopper pieces feel like they're missing some magic.

Chelsea has always been a bit too expensive for me but I go to gardeners world live which has a few show gardens. Last year their winning garden was a sustainable one designed by Frances Tophill. It reminded me of the abandoned plots of land near the train tracks near me. The other gardens were beautiful and equally covered in pollinators.

Maybe it will be like fashion where in a few years time we'll all love it but at the moment, I'm not convinced. It feels like they want you to know immediately that something is scrap or recycled by letting it stick out like a sore thumb. I'd rather they showed how beautiful recycled items can be.

I gave up on Chelsea years ago in favour of Hampton Court where you don't have to plough through dozens of people in a small place who appear to have little interest in plants. It's wearing. As for the tv coverage, it's about people, not plants. Irritating.

Agree - I went to Chelsea about 10 years ago. Wouldn't go back - place was rammed and you couldn't buy any plants or get near the gardens for the number of people - including lots of people craning their necks to see slebs or accidentally on purpose getting in the way of tv cameras. Went to Hampton Court the following year and, bar Covid, have been back each year since. It's such a lovely setting and loads of space to walk/sit with a picnic - and you can buy, you know, actual PLANTS. Fantastic day out - can't recommend it enough.

I went to Chelsea yesterday, a friend had a spare ticket. It was fabulous, especially the Grand Pavilion which is always the best.

Agree w pp who say it’s soooo formulaic these days - even down to the plants that are in fashion. Lynchnis, allium, iris, fennel, quaking grass, pink cow parsley, dark red aquilegia everywhere. Plants felt very samey in the show gardens.

The attendees uniform this year was much in evidence - dress (pref green or floral or bonus points for both), denim jacket and fancy trainers. Literally 90% of women wearing this combo.

So these two things combined left it all feeling a bit regimented, like the lovely Chelsea pensioners we saw singing sitting at a table in the shade in one of the show gardens. I used to think Chelsea was cutting edge but it felt very far from that.

And agree re the Joe/Monty dynamic - it felt very splintered and not at all natural.