Tiggy Salt

Down with Chelsea

It’s that depressing flower show again, full of forced plants and taking over the television schedules

issue 26 May 2012

It’s that depressing flower show again, full of forced plants and taking over the television schedules

Have you been to the Chelsea Flower Show this year? Did you find it a little bit depressing? I thought so. For me, it’s like New Year’s Eve — every year I feel I should go and have fun, and every year, almost without fail, it’s a disappointment.

The biggest problem is the crowds. They make the struggle around the show ground a test of stamina and ingenuity. Whenever I hear someone say ‘I just love people-watching’, I suggest they visit the flower show’s loudly trumpeted gardens on Main Avenue. That’ll soon cure them.

The RHS have done their best to relieve the problem, by limiting timed-entry ticket sales, extending the show by a day, and all of that, but the beast just keeps growing.

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