19 inspirational, touching and funny Chelsea Flower Show pictures

Last week's Chelsea Flower Show produced all sorts of weird and wonderful display – we sent photographer Charlie Hopkinson along to record his favourite sights.

Chelsea Flower Show pictures
(Image credit: Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

It's always the same at these exhibitions: there are always a few wooden actors around...
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

Not the result of a lengthy queue, but rather a Royal Navy serviceman at the CWGC Centenary Garden
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

Topiary temptation for anyone hoping to capture a different view of the displays
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

The wooden animals on display were extraordinary...
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

...such as the horses...
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

...and the clashing stags showing that sticks and stones really can break bones...
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

If you go down to the Chelsea Flower Show today, you're sure of a big surprise...
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

Nigel Slater caught up with Country Life's gardens editor, Kathryn Bradley-Hole
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

Oriental influences were in evidence as always
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

It was hard to believe that some of the gardens were merely temporary creations...
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

"I couldn't BELIEVE it when I saw someone else wearing the same dress as me!"
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

The prettiest tuk-tuk we've ever seen...
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

Anyone for ice cream?
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

James Alexander-Sinclair poses in front of the Zoe Ball Listening Garden that he designed
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

Some of the gardens brought the indoors outdoors
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

The Breast Cancer Now Garden, designed by Rith Willmott
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

Oranges were not the only fruit. But there were plenty of them in evidence.
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

The overall winner of best show garden was James Basson's M&G Garden, an evocation of a disused quarry in Malta
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Chelsea Flower Show pictures

The Morgan Stanley Garden by Chris Beardshaw
(Image credit: Country Life / Charlie Hopkinson)

Country Life

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.