You know you live in a country with long traditions when the Royal Horticulture Society celebrates a hundred years of anything. The event in question is the upcoming Chelsea Flower Show, which will be held at Chelsea Hospital between May 21st and May 25th and 2013 marks exactly 100 years since its creation. Before I discuss the present and the future of the show, I’d like to stop and talk a bit about its past – after all, a century is a lifetime.
Ever since its first show in 1913, the Chelsea Flower Show has been hosted every year and has established itself as the longest running and uninterrupted event of its kind, if we’re to ignore the two short gaps surrounding the two World Wars (though it would have shown quite the spirit and fortitude, if the show went on during wartime). In its earliest years, the show boasted the title of the biggest show in the country, but has since been beaten by the one at Hampton Court, though it still maintains the reputation as the most prestigious. Continue reading →