Chelsea Flower Show Marks Its 100th Year

The Chelsea Flower Show celebrates its 100th year this spring. The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show or the Great Spring Show, as it is formally called started its first show at the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in May 1913. The annual event attracts international audiences, making it the world’s most famous flower show. Members of the royal family attend the garden show annually.

Ten blooms

Ten representative blooms have been selected to mark each decade, and these are the flowers that have been exhibited since it first started. The public are asked to vote for the flower that will represent the garden show’s first centennial. The winner will be announced during the garden show next month.

Some of the candidates for the centennial bloom include Rhododendron yakushimanum, an evergreen plant that was discovered in Yakushima. It has white bell-shaped flowers. It was used in the development of the smaller varieties of rhododendrons that are suitable for smaller gardens, hybrids of Lupinus russell, a colorful palette of several types of lupins that was introduced in 1938 by George Russell, Pieris Formosa forrestii, introduced in 1924 by George Forrest and Saxifraga Tumbling Waters that was shown from 1913 to 1922.

Exhibitors

Most of the exhibitors in the garden show are established nurseries, although some are just starting. There are exhibitors whose nurseries have been joining the show since 1913. There are those that exhibit only a particular type of flower, such as David Austin who first joined in 1983. His specialty was English roses and he introduced Mary Rose that year. He had launched 185 roses since that year but the best are still the Mary Rose and Graham Thomas.

The garden show had been used as a launch pad for nurseries and new plants. There are not only exhibits that show plants and flowers, but there is also a competition for different types of gardens, from rock gardens to English gardens, to avant-garde, designer and artistic gardens. Chris Baines introduced the wildlife garden in 1985 which paved the way for wild flowers to compete with nursery flowers.

Gardening has been part of the lives of most of the residents of England and the plants and flowers they cultivate and discovered have made great impact in the promotion of the horticulture industry in England.