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Saturday Morning Garden Blog Vol. 21.30. - Opening Day at London's 2025 Chelsea Flower Show [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-26
London’s Chelsea Flower Show had been on my bucket list but was not one that I ever expected to cross off. Yet when I found that I would be in London the same week as the show, it became a reality! The show ran this year from Tuesday, May 20th to Saturday, May 24th. The first two days of Tuesday and Wednesday are reserved for only UK Royal Horticulture Society members who put on the show and the remaining three days are for the public. I read when opened to the public that it was a crowd nightmare as there were lines to look at the displays, lines for bathrooms and no where to sit for lunch or to rest.
This year’s attendance was over 145,000 lucky individuals as the show sold out.
This is Chelsea on one of the public days! The woman circled in red appears to be drinking from a vodka bottle and I don’t blame her!
Photo was labeled “Main Avenue at 2024 Chelsea Flower Show”. Attribution: unknown
So I did the only thing that I could — I’m now a card-carrying member of the UK Royal Horticultural Society (Membership Number 39378491) and attended on opening day!! :-) Besides less crowds, everything would be fresher so it was worth the extra cost for this once-in-a-life-time experience.
In case you are not familiar with the show, it’s not just flowers but also includes trees, vegetables and even entire outdoor gardens. ~The world's greatest flower show reveals cutting-edge garden design, fabulous floral displays and simply the best shopping ~The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is widely considered one of the most prestigious and influential flower shows in the world. It's known for its exceptional garden designs, innovative exhibits, and appearances from top horticulturists. ~Why is Chelsea Flower Show so popular? It's the London Fashion Week of plants
It dictates the horticultural trends of the coming year, it showcases the most beautiful garden designs and extravagant floral displays in one place, and the exhibits of trees, flowers, gardens and even vegetables can all win a coveted award. Royalty and celebrities are welcomed the day before the show opens. You can see who attended this year HERE.
Shown at the 2025 show are the King, Queen, David Beckman and Cate Blanchett
The President of the Royal Horticultural Society, Keith Weed (like his surname!), greeting members of the Royal Family which also included Prince Edward and his wife.
Attribution: royal.uk
Guides informed us that at least five hours are needed to just walk through it all. We spent over nine hours.
Map of Chelsea Flower Show
I think a bit of classical garden music will enhance your viewing pleasure. Let’s get started as it’s a long one.
Once through security and the gates, this was the view as far as the eye could see down Eastern Avenue which divides the show in two!
The Avenue was filled with all types of vendors. When I walked into the first one and saw the bright red tomatoes, I knew I was going to enjoy this show! (DHM- it was tomato scented lotion and candles!)
The vendor’s booths were all spectacular and very inspiring!
I have seen these acorn vases before and although I do have an oak tree, I will try rooting some in my own small bulb forcers.
On the right was the only vendor selling antique garden items. Yeah, I did buy two items in the photo which I will show later, remember they have to fit in a suitcase and be what I consider a bargain!
Okay, we made a mistake after finishing our way down Eastern Avenue. We should have gone right to the main attraction which is the outside garden plots before they were too crowded. But we didn’t know and instead went the opposite direction to the Balcony and Container Gardens that were in the woods.
Media was absolutely everywhere. We witnessed the guy on the left in the sports coat bow his head down and tell the cameraman that he simply couldn’t do this right now. He soon returned after either a cigarette or Xanax to continue his interview.
This is the third bathtub we’ve seen so far!
I was absolutely shocked how much P was enjoying it because all I heard for several months before the show was that we were doing this just for me.
I would have loved to browse around in this display. Notice all the rimless pots like I collect.
a man and his dog (I’m glad they had water for him), telephone booth
This statue is of a Chelsea Pensioner representing the British Army Veterans who reside at the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London who provide their grounds for the show. The hospital, a retirement and nursing home, was established in 1692 for the retired soldiers. The first Chelsea Flower Show was held on their grounds in 1913 and was opened by Queen Alexandra, wife of King Edward VII.
There were a few upscale furniture booths with incredible displays. After seeing this couch, I wondered out loud about the cost of a shipping container then noticed P’s pace had quickly picked up. I was only kidding!
This lady was truly in the mood, buying shoes with embroidered flowers that would go with her lace trimmed socks.
Next, we made it to the most popular part — the outdoor garden displays which were VERY crowded. You could only take photos over others’ heads and shoulders. I didn’t get many photos here because at times I didn’t have enough room to hardly raise my arms. I cannot imagine how crowded they would be when opened to the public.
This was one of my favorites and did win a prize.
attributions: Missy’s-Brother
Her Majesty visited The London Square Chelsea Pensioners Garden, designed by Dave Green. The entire garden will be removed to the Royal Hospital Chelsea after the show. After the other gardens are removed, most are then donated to charity groups. One even going to an animal rescue shelter.
The Queen visiting with Chelsea pensioners. Attribution: royal.uk
We played musical chairs to get seats for lunch. We actually brought our own lunch with us (fresh bread, cheese, olives, sticky toffee pudding and water bottles) as we heard the lines would be brutal for food and they were. We sat with a very nice mother and daughter from Nottingham who loved our political views and shared a lot of good laughs. The day before they had been at Buckingham Palace and witnessed the King and Queen’s caravan returning from the show.
We then entered the The Great Pavilion which covers 2.9 acres completely under tent.
Gardens Illustrated notes that the Great Pavilion houses over 400 horticultural exhibits, including show gardens, floristry displays, scientific zones, and trade stands. RHS further indicates that the Pavilion holds over 500 exhibitors from around the world.
We had no idea what to expect and it blew us away
The tent was GIGANTIC.
The big buzz around the show was that Monty Don had his first ever exhibit at the show. He definitely has one of my favorite garden shows.
x We’re wagging our tails with excitement as we announce the RHS and @BBCRadio2 Garden for Dogs designed by @TheMontyDon for #RHSChelsea 2025 to celebrate the UK's love for dogs and gardens 🐶
Discover more about the garden:
https://t.co/KxKOaHz1gK pic.twitter.com/tWoTqq2Ewn — The RHS (@The_RHS) October 22, 2024
Monty Don designed his garden with his golden retriever, Ned, in mind.
The design aimed to create a playful and practical space that celebrates the bond between dogs and their owners.
I couldn’t get any really good photos because of the crowds. Monty’s garden is all over social media.
Amazing how all of this was so out of season
Side view of punk rocker from 1977
One of my favorites
These mushrooms were probably my best favorite!
Another favorite was this one made to resemble an overgrown abandoned cemetery.
Two of our friends decided to also attend Chelsea when hearing we were going. They couldn’t get tickets for the same day but told us to look for a display by a close friend of one of their friends. She previously had displays in the show and lived in Connecticut at one time.
We found her display titled “Moon. in. Bloom”.
Lo and Behold, she won a Silver Medal in her Floristry category!
She teaches classes and has quite a presence on social media. She’s incredible! I subscribed to her YouTube channel and also check out her great website.
Okay, one more look around and then let’s get back outside —
These were a favorite
I had read that you should really dress up to attend the show. Since we were traveling for a month and limited ourselves to only one piece of luggage each, we did our best. P wore a navy blue blazer with jeans and I had on khakis with an Oxford shirt. We did not feel out of place although it was like a fashion show. Several female models were followed around by photographers. It appeared that pants with flowers were very popular with the men plus we saw several kilts. Definitely dresses for the ladies.
This was my new found friend while in the wine testing tent. Originally from NYC, she now lives in Houston.
What a beautiful lady and hat! Cheers again!
This woman sure looks like a familiar British actress that I can’t place. The foursome were very popular subjects for photographers as you can tell that I was pushed guided out of the way to one side.
Okay, let’s wrap this up as I know you are dying to see what I bought!
We stopped back by the antique garden booth as we were leaving. I had previously been following them on social media for a few years — their website Garden and Wood is HERE. I was happy to meet them and the man was very nice but the woman was …. well …..
I have a thing for antique/vintage metal plant tags on stakes and already have quite a collection. There are some British ebay sellers that offer them but the price of shipping is outrageous. I bought two plant tags from above that had no shipping costs and were easy to travel with as they took no space in luggage. You can tell from the dirt on the bottoms that I am already using them. Regardless of what the tags say, I enjoy having vintage tags in pots or just lying around.
After a long day, we said goodbye to Chelsea and also to this pensioner at the exit gate with the two young servicemen assisting him with donation buckets.
Well, you didn’t think this was the end, did you?
We made our way back to the Tube and realized that it was rush hour. We decided to sit in a nearby park to wait until the crowds somewhat thinned out. My feet were killing me but P wanted to take a walk around a bit. I had already done over 25,000 steps! The people in the park were extremely interesting and these photos were taken while I was waiting for P’s return. How could a small city park have such wonderful displays?
P came back about thirty minutes later and said I “ HAD ” to follow him. Unknown to us the entire Chelsea area in London’s West End decorates for the flower show — businesses, private homes and even small city parks!
Chelsea is an affluent area known for the smart boutiques & high-end restaurants lining busy King's Road.
Almost every store front had decorations in honor of the show.
What I found extremely nice about this one is that the roping started outside around the entrance, continued across its store front, through the store to its back then eventually circled back to the front window.
The upper right was one of the most popular with a huge crowd around it. I was disappointed in Ralph Lauren (bottom right) as it was just cut flowers in buckets. No creativeness.
So ends our beautiful day at Chelsea which I will never forget. Ida D, I wasn’t in Kentucky anymore!
I’ll do a diary soon on our visit to RHS Garden Bridgewater located in Manchester, one of five gardens owned by my new BFF family, the Royal Horticultural Society. :-) My membership allowed both of us free entrance and we were even presented with a $5 gift card which we used for coffees.
I’ll end this diary with another antique garden souvenir that I bought during the trip. The friends that I mentioned above who were in London at the same time. Together we saw MJ the Musical on the West End and another day went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. They also talked us into taking the bulletin train with them from London to Paris for a day. We went to the largest of the Paris flea markets (Saint-Quen), had lunch and dinner and returned the same day.
CWALTER — the artichoke I had for lunch at the flea market …. you have no idea!
This flea market is the world’s largest and was everything that I had heard, read and watched on YouTube. Incredible but extremely expensive. I found this antique majolica faux boi pot in the back of a top shelf and later circled back to retrieve it. What a pain taking it along for the rest of our trip without chipping or breaking it but happy to report it survived wrapped in a healthy dose of bubblewrap.
It’s so ugly that it’s beautiful!
It was P that took over bargaining with the seller as I had long ago forgotten my high school French. P got an incredible price and bought it for me! (Maybe thinking that it would take my mind off the couch and shipping container? Again I was only kidding!)
Paris Flea Market Seller giving a thumbs up after our purchase.
And another big thumbs up if you made it this far, Thanks! And for the record P had a fantastic time and would return to Chelsea in a heartbeat, so after all, the show was not just for me !
I know this was extra long but I hope you also enjoyed it and that I gave you a real feel of being there.
What’s up Mates?
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