@The_RHS Chelsea – Feeling the force of gravity

As the last few days of February slip away into oblivion, March looms and I start to feel the force of gravity of Planet Chelsea. It’s not a good idea to flip through the diary at this stage; too few pages separate me from May.  Every year I mean to be ahead of the game, but in reality I avoid the issue until timescale threatens.

Some aspects of this year’s exhibit have bonded in the past couple of weeks.  Organicstone, as ever have felt the force and come up with just the right flooring products for pathway and feature paving. Tom Stogdon has sent through some amazing images of his sculptures. We’ve decided on a building from M&M Timber, and almost decided on colours.  A curious fibreglass object that’s sitting in front of my desk is raising a few eyebrows.  “What is it?” they ask. “Isn’t it obvious?” I reply; clearly not. 

My desk is an untidy heap of papers, brochures, post-it notes and a few scribbled lines on a plan. The Chelsea plant list has got as far as my “things to do” list.  Some of the Chelsea mag is written and the concept clearly explained; well fairly clearly. This year’s theme….I’ll tell you that after Friday. I said I would do that at Hillier Horsham on Friday.  Some already know. But if you do please don’t tell anyone yet. I think every major piece of news needs a release date and in the best media traditions that news is bound to be leaked beforehand.

I was at a conference for Floral Exhibitors (as opposed to Garden Exhibitors and purveyors of garden goods) at The RHS in London last week.  Interesting day talking rules of judging, social media etc.  I thought we would be discussing the Centenary of Chelsea, but that wasn’t really mentioned. Anyway what the meeting achieved was about of a pre-show reunion of exhibitors.  It was nice to get to see the Chelsea family before the show. It means you can get the “it doesn’t seem five minutes!” out of the way early.