Friday, 27th May

The great day had arrived. To be honest, every day of my trip was a great day, but this one was more special than most. For years I had watched films about the Chelsea Flower Show and drooled with envy of the people lucky enough to attend. I used to get the Thompson & Morgan seed catalogues just so I could enter the sweepstakes, the grand prize being a trip to Chelsea. Attending this flower show was very high on my list of things to do before I died.

I remember a friend of mine coming into my office shortly after I had decided to actually make the journey to England so I could attend the show. I had just purchased my plane tickets and was feeling rather smug. She remarked that I looked pleased about something and asked what was up. I told her that I had decided to give myself a little treat and do something I had wanted to do for years and years. When I told her I had just bought a ticket for England so I could attend the Chelsea Flower Show she looked at me like I'd completely lost my mind.
'Well,' she said, 'I hope you'll see some other things while you're there so it won't be a wasted trip.'

Nongardeners. Pah!

The Chelsea Flower Show is the premier event of the horticultural year. It is the Olympics of gardening. A trip to London for no other reason than to attend is perfectly rational in my book. The show draws gardening enthusiasts from all over the world. My decision to cross the Atlantic in order to attend was certainly not unique.

Teuchter took the train into London where we met Caerwynn and Amy the Ant. I was anxious to finally meet both ladies. I think I probably bounced all the way from Yateley to London. We took the tube to a station near the grounds and walked the rest of the way. It was a beautiful, sunny day that turned out to be the hottest of the year.

Teuchter and Caerwynn are both members of the Royal Horticultural Society and were old hands at RHS flower shows. Amy and I were the novices. Like I mentioned before, I had watched highlights of the annual shows on television for years and so thought I knew what to expect. I was wrong.

For one thing, the films are normally made while the gardens are under construction and on the first day. And they show bits and pieces which, while lovely, really don't convey the scope of the event.

It was the 83rd Chelsea Flower Show, which is held each May in the grounds of the Royal Hospital. The grounds were designed by Christopher Wren and have been the home to the RHS's Great Spring Show since 1913. The Great Spring Show, itself, is over 160 years old and was held in Chiswick, Kensington and the gardens of the Inner Temple before being moved to Chelsea.

Last year's show was the first to offer a Saturday opening. The idea was to ease congestion by spreading the show over five days rather than four. The first two days each year are reserved for RHS members only. The tickets sell out so early each year that Teuchter wasn't able to get us in until Friday, which was the second of the public days. The Saturday tickets sold like hotcakes, so it was apparently a wise move.

The Chelsea Flower Show has over 600 exhibitors each year and draws about 160,000 visitors. Each show is in the planning stage for approximately 18 months, so the planning overlaps each year. In 2005 there were 19 large show gardens and 33 small ones. There is also a large enclosed area under tents called the Royal Pavilion filled with exhibitors. This area alone covers 3.5 acres. And, in addition to the actual gardens and horticultural exhibits, there are dozens of vendors selling everything from seed packets to garden gloves to statuary to garden furniture. And, of course, souvenirs of the show are readily available.

Exhibitors vie for medals – RHS Gold, Silver-Gilt, Silver and Bronze. Gold medals are awarded across the board regardless of the type of exhibit. The other medals are awarded depending on type. The Flora range medals go to exhibitors of ornamentals plants, flowers and gardens. The Hogg range medals go to exhibitors of fruits. The Knightian range medals are awarded to exhibitors of vegetables. The Lindley range medals are presented to exhibits that display special educational or scientific value. And the Grenfell range medals are won by exhibitors of floral arrangements, flower beds, hanging baskets, window boxes, pictures and photographs.

There are also special show awards. These include the President's Award, the Best Show Garden Award, the Best Courtyard Garden Award, the Best City Garden Award, the Best Chic Garden award and trophies for Floral Arrangement, Floristry and Junior Display.

It is also important to note that exhibitors come from all over the world, not just the UK. One of the major stories of the 2005 show was the entry from Granada. The island took a direct hit from Hurricane Ivan and it was feared that the planned exhibit wouldn't be possible. But not only was Granada represented, the exhibit was stunning. It was a marvellous example of the resilience of nature.

The show was very crowded, especially around the show gardens. This made it difficult for this short person since it always seemed like some tall man or woman rushed in front of me as I approached each garden. So it took a bit of perseverance and a judicious use of elbows upon occasion for me to be able to see what I wanted. But every nudge, stomp and kicked shin was worth it. The gardens were glorious.

The themes at the 2005 show were peace and recycling. It was the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and my favourite two of the show gardens touchingly memorialized this milestone. The first was called 'A Soldier's Dream of Blighty'. This garden was presented by the Royal Hospital Chelsea and marked the first time the hospital itself had a show garden. They were trying to recreate the image in the mind of a serviceman during the war, dreaming of his home and what was waiting for him upon his return. It contained a thatched country pub, a small village green and pond, a vegetable plot, roses and wildflowers and red
poppies. There was a table outside at which actual Chelsea Pensioners were seated. The colour scheme was red, white and blue. It truly was just as I'm sure many soldiers in harm's way must have imagined England. Designed by Julian Dowel, it was a very special garden.

The second garden that brought a lump to my throat was presented by the Imperial War Museum and was called 'The Peace Garden'. This garden offered a place for quiet reflection. Designer Sir Terrance Conran created a stone wall as a backdrop. This wall was inscribed with the word 'peace' in over 40 languages. A small waterfall emerged from the wall and ran into stream which, in turn, formed a pool underneath a dovecote, complete with ceramic doves. Seats were placed near the pool beneath two oak trees. The plants and flowers were selected for their symbolic relationship to war and remembrance. With the exception of a few bright red poppies, all of the flowers were white. The stream was filled with pebbles, each one representing the half million British or
Commonwealth lives lost in the war.

There were many, many more memorable gardens, far too many to detail here. But I do want to mention 'The Rubbish Garden' which impressed me enormously. It was designed by Claire Whitehouse and was presented by the RSPB and SITA Environmental Trust. This contemporary garden was created using reclaimed or recycled materials, proving that an attractive, welcoming garden can be created in an environmentally friendly manner. It also focused on attracting wildlife to your garden, something I have preached to my neighbours for years.

And finally, I want to recognize the efforts of the students of the Sheddingdean Primary School for their garden called 'Round and Round The Garden'. This garden was the result of a school project and was also constructed of recycled materials. The garden has a circular theme which represents the cyclical nature of life. It used old pallets to create a compost cottage and tabletop. There were also mosaics created by the children. Plantings were in the school colours and consisted of plants
native to the school's West Sussex environment. The school had around 200 students in total. The actual garden design was created by Year 6 pupils. Very impressive.

The best way to describe my reaction to the exhibits in the Royal Pavilion is sensory overload. It was like my visit to the British Library. There are only so many different ways to say, 'Oh my God, look at this!' Every plant imaginable seemed to be represented under the exhibition tents. There were familiar friends and specimen plants on public display for the first time. There was an evergreen tree, long thought to be extinct, so valuable that it was surrounded by a security system. Cacti, hostas, roses, clemetis, orchids, peonies, primroses (they had a striped one!), ferns, tropicals, vegetables, dianthus, begonias, geraniums, iris, astillbe, the list goes on and on. It was amazing – breathtakingly beautiful. There was too much to take it all in.

The food there was mediocre and overpriced. I had a baked potato topped with a chicken curry of some kind and really wished I had chosen almost anything else. Amy proved herself to be a true friend when she went in search of some ice so I could have a cold drink. I am a true American in that I dislike drinking anything at room temperature. I want it to be either very cold or very hot. There was no place to sit and rest so we, along with dozens of others, plopped on the ground on a small hillside to people watch for a while.

I hit the souvenir stands and came away with a tea towel for my mother and tote bags for myself and my sister who has attended more flower shows than I have but whom I had just one-upped. Let's hear it for sibling rivalry.

I wasn't the only one suffering from too much to see. All of us were hot and tired and ready to leave. We walked toward the tube station and found a nice pub called the Flamenco where we had a drink and a pleasant chatter. We parted company at the train station, where Amy and Caerwynn headed for Guildford and Teuchter and I headed toward Yateley.

We were having a dreadful time finding an empty train carriage when we spotted Mr T standing up along with several others because there weren't any available seats. Teuchter caught his attention and he got of off the train and joined us. It seems that the train to Fleet that normally has eight cars was down to four and people were packed like sardines. We went back into the station and waited for another train. They cancelled the next two trains to Fleet altogether. Finally, they added Fleet to a train that normally doesn't stop there. We rushed to the platform only to find the cars packed once again. So, we brazenly boarded one of the nearly empty first class cars, sat down and dared anyone to throw us off. It appeared that my honeymoon with public transport had ended.

The Chelsea Flower Show (along the beautiful gardens I visited during my stay in England) made it crystal clear that I know very little about gardening and could never live long enough to learn everything I would like. But the inspiration it gave me was priceless. It was a marvellous experience - one I will always cherish.

My vacation was now half over. The following day would take us back to London for a mini-meet and a trip to the Science Museum to see the Hitchhiker exhibition and watch the movie together on the Imax screen. What fun. I couldn't wait.

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