Chelsea Flower Show opens online for the first time ever
Every year over a week in May, thousands of people attend the Chelsea Flower Show in west London. The event is organised by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). (Horticulture is the study or activity of growing garden plants.) It is one of the world’s most famous flower shows, with a pavilion covering an area large enough to park more than 400 London buses. Visitors dress up in smart clothes and come for a horticultural day out, complete with strawberries and fish and chips.
This year, for the first time since the Second World War, the show was cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak. Instead it was held online and broadcast on TV – a first for the event.
Every day from 18 to 23 May, famous gardeners and presenters gave online tours of their own gardens. Schools got involved with a daily gardening club offering activities to try at home. Lockdown challenges announced on Twitter and the RHS website included making a superhero out of a vegetable; designing an amazing plant; and supporting a charity. Astronaut Tim Peake was interviewed about how to grow seeds in space, and garden lovers, including the royal family, posted pictures of their own green spaces using the hashtag #MyChelseaGarden. As part of this, the Queen revealed that her favourite flower is lily of the valley; they were used in the flowers she held during her coronation (crowning ceremony) in 1953. During the lockdown, 42% of people in the UK say they have turned to gardening to help them feel more positive. The RHS asked people to flood their social media with pictures of peaceful gardens to help ease people’s anxiety. Sue Biggs, the director general of the RHS, said, “Plants, gardening and the natural world have never been so important to us.” The RHS website (rhs.org.uk) has lots of tips and ideas for how you can grow things at home.