The annual RHS Chelsea Flower Show is often referred to as the Met Gala for Flowers. It's big, it's beautiful – it's a lot to wrap your head around.
You can do all the prep in the world for a show like Chelsea and still, there will always be things that surprise you. Or at least, that's what I discovered when I attended the show for the first time this year.
I went with the House Beautiful team on Monday's Press Day, ready to soak up all the garden inspiration, speak to designers and spot all the big trends. But, as it turns out, there are a few things I wish I’d known before arriving...
1) Yes, you can wear Doc Martens
First things first, clothing. Specifically, what are you going to wear?
I’m not really a floral dress person – though my full respect to those who are – and so the idea of donning a flowery outfit with a wedding-style fascinator made me slightly anxious. I asked my editor if she had any advice on the matter. 'Liz,' she said, in so many words, ‘this isn't something you need to worry about.’
I ended up wearing pleated trousers, a rollneck and Doc Martens. At Chelsea, you’ll likely spend most of the day on your feet – or in our case, running around from garden to garden. The key here is choosing comfort over style. This is boots-on-the-ground journalism, and the boots are a necessity.
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2) The Chelsea cough is a real thing – and you will get it
As we made our way through Chelsea in Bloom, the free flower festival that takes place on the streets of Chelsea, something strange started happening – I began to sneeze. And I mean, a lot. By the end of the day, after touring the RHS Chelsea showground, it felt like I’d swallowed a tree-full of pollen.
‘What’s happening?’ I asked our editor. ‘You’ve got Chelsea cough,’ she said. Chelsea cough – or Chelsea flu, as it’s interchangeably known – is the allergy-like reaction you get from spending too much time around pollen, and the towering plane trees, coupled with the windy weather, certainly don’t help. Symptoms include sneezing, a sore throat and irritated eyes. Between us at House Beautiful, we’d managed to tick off every one.
3) Alan Titchmarsh walks FAST
Hoping to get a glimpse of Alan Titchmarsh while you’re there? Good luck. Blink-and-you-miss-him-Titchmarsh walks at pace, and by the time your colleague points him out, he’ll already be all but a small dot in the distance.
During our time at Chelsea, I was on celeb spot duty. All those years of watching British terrestrial TV had finally paid off as Mary Berry, Angellica Bell and Miriam Margolyes graced us with their presence. Alan, however – the Usain Bolt of leisurely walking – was harder to pin down.
4) The hand wash is incredible
Honestly, there's not a lot to say about this but the Weleda Skin Food hand wash in the bathrooms at RHS Chelsea was delightful. I mean, being surrounded by flowers all day, there's a pretty high bar when it comes to scent, and yet, for some reason, this one really stood out.
The lesson here? Come for the flowers, stay for the hand wash.
5) The gardens look bigger on the telly
Call it the magic of TV but on BBC's RHS Chelsea Flower Show, those gardens look big. In person, they're actually much smaller than they appear. Small but perfectly formed, that is.
If your mission (like mine) is to see all the gardens at Chelsea, it's a surprisingly achievable goal in just a few hours, but you'll likely want to circle back to them, depending on how big the crowds are getting.
6) Don’t even think about skipping the balcony gardens
At Chelsea, it's often good to go in with a list of priorities, and I would recommend putting the balcony gardens high on your list. Where the show gardens are grand and certainly something to behold, the balcony gardens are packed with small-space inspiration and plenty of achievable tricks to copy at home.
Any highlights, you ask? Tales from the Riverbank Garden sponsored by Kennedys’ Independent Property Agents and A Little Garden of Shared Knowledge sponsored by Viking.
7) The rain is kind of a blessing
Rain at an open-air flower show? Sounds like a nightmare. Well, you’ll be pleased to hear that poor weather at Chelsea can actually be a blessing in disguise. The thing about Chelsea, you see, is it gets very busy. People are everywhere – particularly along Main Avenue – and it can be hard to get a word in edgeways with the designers, let alone take in the beauty of the gardens.
After a morning of mild weather and working our way through crowds, the heavens opened. People fled to the Great Pavilion (the large white tent that's affectionately called 'the crown jewel of RHS Chelsea'), and this meant that for the first time all day, Main Avenue was clear. Umbrellas in hand, we perused the Show Gardens with ease, chatting to designers who had been busy all morning. In many ways, it was the first calm moment of the day.
8) You will not see David Beckham (devastating)
Going to Chelsea, I knew we wouldn't be seeing the King – the Royal Family arrive later in the afternoon – but one person I was hoping to see, however, was Sir David Beckham.
Alas, it was not meant to be. Sir David, who worked with the King on The Curious Garden designed by Frances Tophill, arrived with the royals later that day. I'm sure he missed us as much as we missed him. Until next year, David.
9) The idiom is true – you must stop and smell the roses
In lieu of seeing the actual David Beckham, we opted to see his new David Austin rose instead. Wandering into the Great Pavilion, we made our way to the David Austin stand. Rose after beautiful rose was on display, but what stood out most was the scent.
Like an expensive perfume, the fragrances were not only rich but genuinely complex. It was a welcome reminder that, for all the running around you do at Chelsea, it’s important to slow down, take a beat and stop to smell the roses.
