The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has cancelled next year's Chatsworth Flower Show and Cardiff Flower Show as it faces a £18 million loss as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The UK gardening charity made the decision to safeguard its future, after closely analysing its finances and losses made from cancelling this year's Flower Shows following lockdown in March.
While the RHS has since reopened four Gardens around the UK, like many others, the charity has had to reduce its financial liabilities for 2021. Sadly, this has meant stopping the areas of work that require substantial RHS investment in order to operate.
Currently, all other RHS shows, including the Chelsea Flower Show, Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival and RHS Flower Show Tatton Park are planned to continue in 2021. The RHS is planning for all scenarios to open the events safely.
Sue Biggs, RHS Director General, explains: 'With record online visits to our gardening advice pages and more people using our membership advice service than ever before, the RHS is finding alternative ways to achieve its core charitable remit to help people across the whole of the UK to garden and grow plants. However, cancelling Chelsea and Hampton and closing our gardens has had a significant impact on our finances and we must protect the RHS, a charity of national importance, to ensure we can survive and thrive in the future.
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'Chatsworth and Cardiff were wonderful shows that have been a key part of our charitable remit to promote gardening, but as they attract less visitor numbers than Tatton and Hampton and are a significant cost to put on, it is with great sadness we cannot afford to continue to run them in these times.
'We need to mitigate our financial liabilities wherever possible, whilst trying our hardest to work in the fairest way with all stakeholders, including our partners at Chatsworth House and Cardiff Council, and we will of course continue to support the industry.'
Sue continued to thank the partners, members and visitors at both shows over the years, concluding: 'This is the hardest but most responsible decision we can make, we owe it to our members, donors, sponsors and all our supporters to spend our funds wisely and do the best we can to serve the nation’s gardeners. These are difficult times for everyone.'
Elsewhere, the London Spring Show in April 2021 will move to RHS Garden Hyde Hall. Plus the RHS hopes to move the London Botanical Art & Photography Show, also in April, to another venue in London.
Still set to go ahead next year will be the opening of the RHS Garden Bridgewater, as well as the Centre for Horticultural Science and Learning at RHS Wisley.
The RHS is also in the process of looking at other opportunities to support the horticultural industry, particularly those involved in the Cardiff and Chatsworth Shows.
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15 great plants for small gardens
Abundant blue flowers are produced continuously from May to September above elegant deeply divided mid-green leaves – features that won it Plant of the Century at the 2013 RHS Chelsea Flower Show. It’s happy both in sun or shade.
Flowering for months on long elegant stems, this low-maintenance, colourful bloomer for a sunny border is short-lived but worth replacing. It thrives even in poor soil and is best positioned in full sun.
Long stems carry blooms of bright pumpkin-orange flowers, which last from spring to autumn, above good scalloped foliage. Place it in a sunny spot.
This compact, year-round beauty produces new, fiery red foliage in spring followed by clusters of white in midsummer, before colouring up to bronze red in winter. It grows well in sun or shade.
Despite its glamorous appearance, this easy-to-grow tropical-looking plant is as tough as old boots and happy in sun or shade.
Plant this taller variety of sweet box – with deep-purple ornamental stems bearing heavily scented flowers from December to February – near your back door to best appreciate the amazing perfume. It’s happy in shade.
This versatile, evergreen, self-clinging climber is perfect for a north-facing shady wall, just like the more familiar Hydrangea petiolaris. Masses of tiny creamy-white flowers are carried in dainty clusters from late summer into autumn.
With beautiful crimped, evergreen foliage, this ivy is quite a vigorous grower, but if it gets out of hand, just hack away unwanted stems in spring.
Initially this woody evergreen will need support. Its glossy dark green leaves turn bronze in winter while summer sees clusters of starry white, fragrant flowers. It’s fairly frost hardy, flourishing in full sun but will grow on a shady wall, producing slightly less bloom.
Strident dwarf iris with large blue flowers and a yellow band is an early (Jan-Feb), long-flowering iris with a good scent that looks great in a pot.
This classic green and ivory tulip will grow in shade, returning for at least four years. It’s wonderful among ferns in containers.
Breathtaking brilliant-pink flowers are produced in autumn when much else is over. Nerines do extremely well in pots.
Masses of tiny yellow flowers appear on this all-season, deciduous tree before the leaves shoot. Bright red, cherry-like edible fruits follow against an impressive display of reddish-purple autumn foliage. Older trees develop beautiful bark in shades of orangey brown.
This pretty ornamental pear tree is the first to come into flower in spring, and last to lose its leaves in the autumn, when foliage turns bright orangey red. A small tree is ideal for screening in a small garden, and tolerates urban pollution, thriving in a wide range of soils.
Beautiful year-round, buds burst from bare branches in March in a flurry of white stars, as the leaves emerge in shades of copper. Edible berries ripen from blue-black to a rosy red in June, to be followed by wonderful autumn foliage in brilliant orange and red.
