Chelsea Flower Show

A day of double pleasure today - I visited the Van Gogh exhibition at the Tate Britain this morning, which was very interesting. We had a lecture on the exhibition where I learnt some interesting facts about Van Gogh, such as his entire painting career was only 10 years long. Before he became an artist he tried teaching at a school in the UK and also tried to be a priest. The exhibition is about his work connected to Britain, the artists he influenced and who he was influenced by, so in every room there were some of his works but also much work by other artists too. 

After this I walked in the lovely sunshine up towards Victoria to meet Gavin - we had a late lunch and then walked back to the Chelsea Flower Show. What I never realised is that when the flower show is on there is also a Chelsea in Bloom festival where most stores and restaurants in Chelsea decorate their entrances with flowers, which was stunning - see extras. 

I had booked 3.30pm entry tickets (as Gavin was busy at work all morning). Tuesday and Wednesday is for RHS members only, and the show is open to the public from Thursday to Saturday. However so many people are RHS members that it was so crowded - I would hate to be there later in the week. I never found the gardens that amazing. Of course The Duchess of Cambridge's garden had a very long queue to enter it, which I thought was pointless as you see most of it as you walk around it. It is also a whole lot smaller than you see on TV. The 3rd extra is a garden that was done by the gardeners at Gravetye Manor, which I visited about a week ago. They told us that although they had planned the garden and grown the plants they were not allowed to go to the flower show to plant it, as the show has professional gardeners who do the planting. They told me it was not terribly exciting as these days the gardens are all about sustainable gardens or eco friendly ones, rather than the pretty gardens we used to see here years ago. I think I agree with them, it is not a very pretty garden. I am sure there were less gardens than a decade ago but certainly many more shops and stalls selling stuff.

My favourite part of the show were the displays in the Great Pavilion. My blip is taken there, of one of the rose displays. I loved the vegetable display (see extra) and the South African display (which won gold) which was full of proteas.

It was very busy and so not always possible to get a decent photo as there were either people in the way or TV crew interviewing someone in the gardens. There were not many places to sit so it was quite a tiring day. By 6.30pm we had had enough and I was ready to leave. It was a lovely day but I don't think I would like to go every year, it's just too busy.