Master the Chelsea Flower Show

The annual Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show returns 24-28 May, 2011. Maneuver through the maze of displays, tents and the sea of fellow horticulturalists, as quickly as a master gardener prunes a patch of petunias, with these top tips:

• Download the show’s insider’s iphone app for live updates on events and exhibitors
• Pick up a show map and plan the day around the highlights
• Hope to replicate a look at home? Snap photos of the plants and labels.
• Arrive at the show before the gates open (the number of visitors increase after lunch)
• Wear sensible walking shoes. This is an outdoor event and it could be wet
• Bring cash and coins to avoid waiting for credit card machines and change
• Pack a picnic to beat the queues at the food stalls or book a table at Rock Bank restaurant
• For bargain hunters: Plants from the show are sold off at 4pm on the last day; look out too for exhibitors’ cast offs – they replenish their posies the minute a petal is out of place
• Sip Pimm’s, the show’s signature British drink while people watching
• Unable to attend this year’s Chelsea Flower Show?  Tickets are available for the world’s largest flower show at Hampton Court Palace 5-10 July. Or maybe visit the Chelsea Physic Garden, one of London’s hidden gems

flickr images: Wolfiewolf