Chelsea Flower Show 2017

Every year Chelsea Flower Show comes on the TV and I say, "Damn. I meant to go this year."




Well - no more! Because I remembered in time to book tickets this year and I've been!




And to top it, the weather was fantastic and setting gorgeous (the Royal Hospital Chelsea) - lovely grounds, well organised, lots to see, good entertainment when you are not looking at stands, and lots of food outlets.

















So, here is a selection of my pics. I didn't take ones of all the gardens because many didn't appeal to me - particularly if they have modern or abstract features or buildings, although I made an exception for this because of the 'wolves' as my latest book is about wolf shifters.






I freely admit that 'Chocolate box' was invented with me in mind! LOL Those with cottage features or natural features and I'm in love - and I'm pleased to say there were several including my favourite - The Yorkshire Garden - see below with the boat in it and the ruined abbey structure (I know I live in Yorkshire but I wasn't biased, really!).

One friend commented that there seemed to be a blue theme. There WAS quite a lot with blue - or it could just be that those attracted me the most. Here are more I loved:

On the downside, I wasn't prepared for the crush of people - and I get claustrophobic in crowds so it was quite unbearable at times - I think I even knocked down one old lady when I had a panic attack and had to get away from the crush - apologies to the old lady.


Also, I was really really surprised not to see more stands selling plants (I had a long list of ones I wanted to buy and came away with just two packets of seeds). Instead, there were millions of stands selling every other type of thing for your garden - furniture, tools, equipment, ornaments plus others I couldn't see a link - such as clothing and toiletries. I did, though, love this structure for the garden which had a spiral outside staircase to the upstairs - if only I had the money!

Did I enjoy it? Definitely, despite the crowds. Will I go again - no, because of the crowds, and also it was extremely expensive.

But at least I can tick it off my bucket list and I got to enjoy the lovely St James Park on the way back to Kings Cross station.