The Chelsea Flower Show 2016 . . .
VOCABULARY
Greetings from England – a country still in the EU.
When you think of England, what really springs to mind? Is it London, Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament or maybe the Queen, Buckingham Palace and double-decker buses; Harry Potter, driving on the left, fish and chips, wrapped up in newspaper, Shakespeare, the Beatles, Yorkshire pudding or a wonderful cup of tea that, try as I might ,I can’t seem to make here in Austria? Maybe you think of manor houses with immaculately-kept gardens, perfectly-mown lawns, full of roses, tulips and geraniums and trees cut in all different shapes and sizes?
Yes, the English love their gardens and are very proud of them. My mother and my sisters all have very beautiful gardens as do many Britons. They spend so much of their leisure time tending to their gardens and visiting garden centres at the weekends, which are even open all day on Sunday. Some people hire landscape gardeners from nurseries, to turn their gardens into something special.
That is why the Chelsea Flower Show which takes place at London’s Royal Hospital, Chelsea, every year, is so popular. Whether you can afford a five-day-ticket (which must be booked well in advance ) at approximately £100 each, or watch it on TV, it is a must for all lovers of gardens and flowers. This year, some touts were selling tickets for £1,000 on eBay. I am in England at the moment and wasn’t lucky enough to get a ticket for the show, so I watched it on television where it was broadcast live from Chelsea. This made a pleasant change from listening to politicians debating whether Britain should leave the European Union or not.
The Chelsea Flower Show is a flower and garden show held for five days in May, by the Royal Horticultural Society. It is the most famous flower show in the United Kingdom, and probably in the world, as it attracts visitors from all continents. The five-day-show, which was first held in Kensington, in 1862, attracts 157,000 visitors each year. The number of visitors has to be limited due to the capacity of the 11-acre (45,000 m2) grounds. The Royal Family always attends a preview of the show and it is the place to rub shoulders with like-minded people and the rich and famous.
So what makes it so special? Well, it is the place where amateurs and professionals alike can show what they are capable of doing when designing the perfect garden and the more original, the better. There are very often "theme gardens" with rocks, ponds, waterfalls and unusual flowers and plants from all over the world. This year, some 500 exhibitors took part in the competition and some chose themes to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday, with floral gardens and archways covered in roses. Queen Elizabeth had a preview of the Chelsea Flower Show last Monday, before it opened to the public and she received a special honour to celebrate this amazing occasion.
The judges walked up and down the gardens to choose winners from many different categories. This year, the show tried to encourage young people to start gardening again. Many of them are just too busy going to the gym or playing on the computer.
The use of gnomes is banned. They used to be very popular in private English gardens but probably too common for the Chelsea Flower Show. However, these ugly statues are selling really well online.
The glorious hot weather that we enjoyed here in Austria, last week, probably reminded us that we need to get the garden ready. Why not look up some photographs on "The Chelsea Flower Show" website, and be inspired? a sight for sore eyes – eine Augenweide wrapped up – eingewickelt try as I might – so sehr ich mich auch bemühe manor house – Herrenhaus immaculately-kept – tadellos gehalten perfectly-mown lawns – perfekt gemähter Rasen tulips – Tulpen leisure time – Freizeit to tend to – sich um etwas kümmern landscape gardener – Gartenarchitekt nursery – Baumschule to afford something – sich etwas leisten well in advance – lange im voraus approximately – annähernd touts – Schwarzmarkthändler broadcast – im TV übertragen pleasant – erfreulich, angenehm to attract – anziehen limited – begrenzt due to – wegen to rub shoulders with sbd. – mit jmd. zusammenkommen like-minded – gleichgesinnt alike – ebenso theme garden – Garten mit einem Motto pond – Teich some 500 exhibitors – etwa 500 Aussteller judges – Preisrichter encourage – ermuntern gym – Fitnesststudio gnomes – Gartenzwerge banned – verboten common – ordinär, gewöhnlich ugly statues – hässliche Figuren glorious – prächtig to remind – erinnern to inspire – anspornen