The so-called “greatest flower show on earth” opens its doors to the public tomorrow morning. On your behalf, dear readers, I have been rubbing shoulders with celebrities and enjoying a sneak preview of the Chelsea Flower Show at press day today.
The show gardens are, as ever, fabulous works of art with many exquisite planting schemes. 
Foxgloves were very popular again this year and lupins featured in several gardens. 
With many blue/white/pink herbaceous planting schemes around, Alan Titchmarsh’s first Chelsea garden in 30 years was refreshingly different and based on moorland sloping down to the coast.
I loved this moss in one of the smaller artisan gardens, and am wondering if it would be difficult to copy at home… 
In the floral pavillion, schoolchildren were on hand at the Miracle-Gro stand to explain their experiments in growing the same plant in different types of soil/compost. A brilliant idea that I will be copying with school gardening clubs.
The ‘strangest item of the day’ award went to a 6ft dinosaur with rosebud tongue. 
At times it was difficult to concentrate on the gardens due to the high number of celebrities wandering around so I’ll finish with the name-the-celebrity game. (Apologies for the Hello!/OK!-style lapse, normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.)
mini gardeners 
May 23, 2014 at 7:35 am
I’m pleased to know about the Miracle Gro compost experiment; it’s something that I’ll be checking out on Saturday when I go. I have a feeling I’ll be glad to lurk in the Pavilion as rain is forecast so it’s lovely to see your photo of the lupins in the sunshine! That moss is amazing – did you talk to the designer about how it was done? I love how they’re available for a chat on Press Day!
May 23, 2014 at 8:15 am
The moss was fabulous and, not surprisingly, won a gold medal plus best artisan garden. I didn’t manage to get any tips about how it was done as we were all ushered away from the garden as the RHS judges arrived. Curiously, someone did make a reference to it being glued on!