The Chelsea Flower Show might be the most famous in the world — but does it offer the best experience for visitors? Alan Titchmarsh suggests a few others where you might have an even better time.
Another openin’, another flower show. We seem to have so many of them nowadays, but that should really be a cause for celebration rather than irritation. The king of them all is Chelsea, although, nowadays, the density of the crowds is putting off many visitors. A reduction in daily entry numbers (or an increase in timed tickets) would suit us all — if you are listening, RHS — so that the crowds around the show gardens are not 10 deep, as a friend counted this year, by 11am. She gave up in the end and concentrated on the Great Pavilion, where, ironically, fewer exhibitors than in days of old means there is plenty of space to stand and stare.
Steps really do need to be taken to encourage a greater number of nurseries and growers to make the journey to SW3 from the far reaches of the British Isles, not to say the globe. Would a financial incentive help? My 2015 Chelsea catalogue lists 103 exhibitors within the canvas confines. This year, there were only 67. Whatever the reasons (economic and climatic), it is a situation that needs to be addressed. Either that or the Pavilion needs to be reduced in size so that it does not appear to be quite so thinly populated.
The other regulars in the show calendar are Hampton Court, west London (soon to be held at its regal venue biennially), and Tatton Park, Cheshire (ditto, but every three years). The reasons behind these decisions are clearly financial. But these are the giants of the show world and I have a personal affection for those flower shows that are of more modest proportions and, as a result, more in touch with their visiting gardeners.
Malvern in Worcestershire is a favourite, not only because of its delightful location beneath the daisy chain of the Malvern Hills, but also because it has an abundance of heart and soul. It might not be regarded as an essential part of the social scene, but that means it is peopled by those who want to grow things, rather than simply be seen sipping Champagne. The atmosphere of a flower show is influenced every bit as much by its clientele as by its setting. Malvern is also a great place to buy plants — there are avenues with terraces of small enclosures to left and right, many of them with tiny gardens displaying the plants that can be bought from the back of the stall. I defy any gardener not to come away with bagfuls of treasures and spend the next few days shoe-horning them into their beds and borders.
The Duchess of Edinburgh (right) and Alan Titchmarsh, Honorary President RWRHS, sit in a carriage as they attend the Royal Windsor Flower Show at the York Club in Windsor Great Park, Saturday June 8, 2024.
Together with Malvern, the RHS Harlow Carr Flower Show in North Yorkshire was a particular favourite, for the same reasons. Alas, it is no more, but the show that now holds a special place in my heart — and not only because I am its honorary president — is that held in Berkshire in mid June by the Royal Windsor Rose and Horticultural Society.
Here is a show that radiates goodwill and good gardening. The part of Windsor Great Park in which it is held — around the cricket pitch of the York Club — has the sort of rural feel that we remember from flower shows of the first half of the 20th century. You will find marquees stuffed full of roses and flower arrangements, sherry trifles and Victoria sponge cakes, vegetables and fruits, together with more than 1,000 entries from children who have made miniature gardens, animals from aubergines and potatoes and giant butterflies from brightly coloured scrap paper.
There are flower-filled farm carts in competition — this is when the likes of Sandringham in Norfolk and the Savill Garden at Windsor go head to head in showing off their expertise. There are tiny show gardens — barely 6ft by 12ft — that ask young designers to accept the challenge of making a garden to reflect the ‘Harmony’ in Nature that is so important to The King. Local primary schools compete to grow the heaviest crop of potatoes in a pot and to create a garden in a wheelbarrow. And the verdant turf is dotted with nurserymen selling everything from herbs and herbaceous perennials to copper collars to repel slugs and well-made garden tools. The refreshments, courtesy of nearby Coworth Park, are in the form of a swish picnic. As the saying goes: ‘What’s not to like?’
The Royal Windsor Flower Show lasts for only one day in June, but the 5,000 folk who come to enjoy it have room to breathe in a setting that is as Arcadian as it gets. No wonder The Duchess of Edinburgh is so devoted to it and attends every year, leaving smiles in her wake. Other flower shows could learn much from this small, but beautifully formed treasure.
Chatsworth: The gardens and the people who made them by Alan Titchmarsh is out now (Ebury)
