Referaat "Chelsea Flower Show" (0)

4
Chelsea Flower Show
Referent
Tartu 2006

Contents

Contents 2
Foreword 3
Chelsea through the years , from beginnings to nowadays 5
Changes 13
The Role of the Royals 15
In Chelsea Flower Show have everyday different 17
The Chelsea Flower Show Gala Dinner 17
The first day - by invitation only 17
Two Days for Members Only 17
Two Days for the public 17
The Chelsea Plant Sell-Off 17
Judgment Days 19
20
Facts about Chelsea Flower Show 21
Putting on the Show 21
Chelsea's Visitors 21
Summary 23
Used Literature 25

Foreword

“I think that the Great Marquee had a sense of excitement: visitors would enter it expectantly, as if they were unwrapping a Christmas present .”
Head of Shows Development Bob Sweet
Chelsea is, definitely, an event most gardeners love to visit and remember long afterwards. But why it is so? I have read lot about that Show. Everybody seems to be like this, even if there are lots of not so good things.
First I thought it could be very nice way to spend day with family but Chelsea is not a family day out and they take care in targeting the garnering market . There is no discount for children , no family tickets , no children’s play areas . Exhibitions want customers and our job is to manage the balance between the needs of exhibitors and those of the visitors. It’s important to have the right number of exhibitors in each category with a good range of prices, from expensive to economic . They try to pick those with good after – sales service . If we discovered a rogue exhibitor – and it has happened once or twice – we swiftly replace them .
The second mine theory was that maybe some scientist or just amateurs want to learn something new, change experiences with others . But so many people can also make it uncomfortable and even stressful unless you go simply relax and go with the flow, or get there truly early or late . Wear something sensible and take a break, its a long, long day. So I am not sure about that theory is true.
Anyway Chelsea Flower Show is so popular that it is always a sell-out. Last minute Chelsea wannabes hang out on street corners with signs asking for tickets, like with some world famous musical .
Most of the people who have been there want to go back there. Maybe it is because of that in Chelsea Flower Show country meets town; where chic urbanites drink champagne and wear their designer outfits alongside elderly squires in tattered Barbours and red – faced countrywomen with muddy fingernails ; where designers and architects encounter nurserymen and jobbing gardeners. Perhaps , as one exhibitor said, it is the quite indefinable thrill of being at the greatest , the best , and the most prestigious flower show in the world.
So In my referent I will try to find out which of these three theories is right or for that popularity have some not mentioned reason .

Chelsea through the years, from beginnings to nowadays

The Chelsea Flower Show came about practically by accident , as have many great traditions . The world’s most famous flower show might have been the Inner Temple or Holland Park Flower Show, or even the Wembley Flower Show had events worked out differently.
The first Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Great Spring Flower Show at Chelsea opened in May 1913, although , confusingly, there was another May flower show – the Royal International Horticultural Exhibition – held at the Royal Hospital in 1912. This one – off event was backed but not run by the RHS, which cancelled its own Great Spring Show for that year .
The RHS Great Spring Flower Show had normally been based at the Inner Temple in the hart of London, but in 1913 RHS had idea of moving the Show to Holland Park. They thought that the Show was becoming too big for the Inner Temple site. Anyway it stayed in first place .
July 1912 the RHS President Sir Trevor Lawrence had met Major General Crutchley
Of the Royal Hospital at Chelsea, and the two began to talk about a 14-day reservation of the gardens and a 14-year agreement. At the RHS Council meeting the following month, 13 August 1912, all had been decided. The show would move to Chelsea for 1913.The Council then turned to more pressing matters: primulas and experiments in electrical cultivation, for which the RHS would be “put to no expense whatsoever”.
But it not seems so easy for everybody, Piggott Bros, the Society’s tent contractors, were clearly horrified by the timetable. It would be impossible to put up the tents in 14 days; they needed 28.
Considering that Chelsea Flower Show now takes at least 18 months to organize, the RHS was running a tight schedule if it was to be ready in time. At the end of April, a Press luncheon was arranged for Monday , 19 May (a tradition that continues to this day). With only a fortnight to go until the Show opened, the committee agreed that bath chairs should be allowed in, from 9am to 12 noon on the second day, for five shilling extra .
Finally Chelsea successfully opened on Tuesday 20 May 1913, for three days. Curiously there is no Council report on how this Show actually went . The Gardner ’s Chronicle, which provided the best written records of the early Shows, was more forthcoming. The first Chelsea “had exceeded all expectations ”.
The tent, it reported , were 300ft ( 100m ) long and 275ft (80m) wide , taking up six spans and over 2 acres (0,8hectares). Of a total 73,000sq ft (6,780sq m), more than 21,000sq ft (1,950sq m) were allotted to 84 large groups of flowers, plants , and shrubs , with another 7,500 ft (696sq m) used for95 exhibits on tables.
There were 17 large rock, formal , or paved gardens arranged in the open air. In all there were 303 exhibits organized ny244 exhibitors, compared with a mere 25,000sq ft (2,322sq m) and only 126 exhibitions at the Society’s Inner Temple show in 1911. Everyone was very pleased.
At the end of May 1913, the Gardner’s Chronicle was able to add that the Chelsea Show had been the most successful in the Society’s history, with a total income of ₤3,000 (the Temple show having produced a meagre total of ₤1,400 in 1911), with gate receipts of some ₤2,150.
In August 1914 the First World War was declared. The nephew of the RHS President, Field Marshall Lord Grenfell, was killed in action in September, and the RHS staff to give money to help keep their enlisted staff on half pay. A German spray for gooseberry mildew was, meanwhile , blacklisted.
The 1915 Show was a sad affair , with steady rain, mud underfoot, and waterfalls from the tent roof . The railway companies had been quite incapable of delivering the essential rocks and plants on time for the Show, so exhibitors had found other ways to bring them to Chelsea. Lady Dundas, a charitable fund raiser for war victims, arranged for Viscount Dalrymple, then a small boy, to parade around the grounds on a Shetland pony to collect money for the war.
The RHS, which in 1911 refused to allow ladies banquets, now recognized that lady gardeners existed, and acknowledged the necessity to dig for victory. In 1915 it even organized a show of women ’s work at the Horticultural Halls.
As the war deepened, the RHS struggled on. By November the Council had removed King Ferdinand of Bulgaria as an honorary fellow and, the following February, decided that tickets should remain at ten shillings for the first public- access day, with two shillings and sixpence on the second day, and one shilling on the third day of the show.
By March 1916 the RHS were wondering whether to cancel the whole event because of the cost of the new entertainment taxes, but Lord Balfour said it would benefit trade. At this time, the RHS was also given the sad task of working on the layout of war cemeteries in France .
The 1916 Show was therefore very downbeat: it had no great tent, alcoholic drinks were not allowed on the exhibitors’ stands , and the theme was Hardy Flowers for Wartime. The band refused to play German music. There was only one show garden ; and the Hon. Vicary Gibbs turned from vegetables to scented-leaved pelargoniums. The weather , ironically, was glorious.
In 1917 the RHS abandoned the Show, citing new entertainment taxes as a reason, and Chelsea was suspended for two years.
The First World War had been for only six months when the 1919 Chelsea Flower Show opened, following a vote “overpoweringly in the affirmative” to start up again .
The year 1926 produced another problem: The General Strike. Fortunately it ended just in time for the Chelsea Flower Show to go ahead, on 25 May – postponed by one week and reduced to three days. The Gardner’s Chronicle reported that it was larger than ever.
As the experimental five-day opening in 1925 had proved unpopular with exhibitors, the Show became a four -day event in 1927, when an extra day, especially for RHS Members, was instituted. This was to be on a Thursday, and public were allowed in only from Wednesday to Friday .
In 1929 Chelsea reflected garden styles that would be seen more than 50 years later : great set pieces in which hardware and design were as important as the planting itself.
Although there were two more Shows before war was declared in September 1939, the 1937 one was the last great Show before the Chelsea Flower Show closed from 1940 to 1946.
After the Second World War, the RHS President Lord Aberconway told a gathering of former exhibitors in October 1946, “Whatever else we go without , we should not go without Chelsea Flower Show next year”.
The problems of organizing the show in only seven months were immense: gardeners had gone to war; glass was needed for blitzed buildings rather than greenhouses; and Britain was gripped with austerity and rationing. During the war Britain had been seriously bombed for the first time, so exhibits addressed the problems of what could be done with bomb sites around ST Paul’s Cathedral, in the City of London.
Nothing was three-dimensional. All the exhibits were on one level of tabling in the Great Marquee, because the RHS had not yet realized the value of presentation.
Inside the new triple football field – sized Chelsea Display Pavilion, old World War II ammunition crates surface from storage at the Royal Hospital to create the elevated, stair – step display stands underneath all the plant materials.
It is a wonderful example of English economy, devotion to tradition, persistence in spite of obstacles and unabashed joy in the beauty of nature on this relatively small, rocky island country.
In 1951 the RHS proudly announced that the largest marquee in the world – covering 3.4 acres (1.4 hectares)
At the 1971 Show there were floods and thunderstorms; in 1974 the spring was advanced only to be beaten back by late cold spells; and in 1976 everyone complained about too much sun. In 1988 the RHS began charging Members to come to Chelsea and added an extra Members-only day (Wednesday) to its now- traditional Thursday one. Public access to the Show was therefore restricted to Thursday and Friday.
The demand is now so intense that since 1988 all tickets have been sold in advance to manage and control the numbers . Everyone complains constantly: the Press grumbles about its ticket allocation; the public grows weary of beating sun or pelting rain and never finding enough places to sit; some exhibitors dislike the rule forbidding them to sell their plants until the end of the last day, while others object to bought-in plants rather than self-cultivated ones going on display at the Show.
Until 1987 it was daunting, because there was no limit on visitor numbers. Its known that, in 1987, there were 247,000 visitors. There may have been even more before that but we do not have accurate numbers.
In 1988, they limited first time the number of visitors. Also, for the first time, they charged RHS Members for their Chelsea tickets. There were protest and 10,000 Members resigned in disgust, yet 20,000 joined the Society, happy to pay when they made the visit to Chelsea and content that Members from further afield were no longer subsidizing the free tickets of those who lived in London. These were hugely controversial decisions but they probably saved the show. Certainly it became a safer and more enjoyable experience .
Nonetheless the RHS wanted to give its Members special privileges and so, since 1988, only Members are allowed into the Show on Tuesday and Wednesday, with ticket prices from ₤7 to ₤20, while the general public is confined to Thursday and Friday and pays from ₤12 to ₤27.
The RHS has established the standards and the important principle that we do not allow plants to be sold at our shows without a visual contribution. Without this policy you would end up with a street market atmosphere with no educational value.
Plants may not be sold from the stands in the Floral Marquees until an hour before the whole Show closes. Other shows are less stringent – and this is yet another reason why Chelsea is such a great spectacle.
Since the 1980s, when conservatories became very popular, there was been a big demand for Show space by their manufactures. There has also been pressure for more room by firms selling powered machinery – lawn mowers and twig shredders, strimmers, and powered scythes.
In 2001 was no different and, as always, there were ideas and inspiration at every turn . Some you covet instantly, while others might be better suited to someone else 's back garden. The day before the Show is a hive of activity . The TV celebrities have their chance to dance and prance in the garden, taping words of wisdom and wit for the evening news, before the public and the celebrities turn up. The judges are there, clipboards in hand , marking displays for excellence in a number of categories. All this frustrates the ranks of photographers, lined up with their tripods, trying to photograph a pristine and empty garden.
The Chelsea Flower Show 2002 surpassed itself with wonderful gardens and horticultural displays. The innovations this year, especially the introduction of more small garden displays, brought freshness to a Show first held in 1912.
In 2004, the Great Pavilion replaced the long-standing Marquee. The Pavilion, like a huge covered tent, stretches over 12,000 square meters (14,352 square yards) and is the most visible structure on the grounds. Owen calls it a “treasure trove of international horticulture, research, and great ideas.” It is ringed by the various gardens and a cadre of vendors selling everything from curlicue gazebos to hand-painted Wellies, fern trowels, asparagus knives, and mistletoe cutters.
If you’ve been looking around for two or three hours and feel in need of a spot of tea or something a tad stronger, you can savour everything from a three- course lunch, to seafood and champagne, to a sandwich in front of the bandstand AND enjoy music.
New themes ran through the gardens and the displays, with environmental concerns reflected in the number of wildflower gardens, as well as gardens designed for water conservation and wildlife .
Chelsea quality means that all the displays are imaginative as well as flawless because the competition to get in is fierce, and the standards are high. One rose grower told us that the trick is to have all blooms reach their absolute peak on the Monday of the show. Any part of the display that wilts, fades, drops leaves, etc., cannot be altered or removed once the exhibits are completed on Sunday before judging on Monday. So everything is carefully timed, packed, planted, and tended to reach perfection. Display gardens are started months before the show, starting with moving tons of earth, sod, stone , brick , sculptures , water and electrical infrastructure before the actual plants arrive in processions of "lorries" ( delivery vans ) days before the show opens.

Changes

The transformation of the Chelsea Flower Show in the 21st century will be huge – and quite possibly the most drastic since the Show began in 1913.
As in 1913, it is still considered the greatest flower show on Earth. More people want to come to it than can possibly be accommodated, and ever more designers and exhibitors seek to take space on its hallowed turf. It raises huge amounts of money for charity , too. There is nothing like it; it has no competitor.
In past catalogues could find a plan of the entire showground on the inside front cover and a more detailed one of the Great Marquee itself on the inside back cover .
Since the first Show, the overall plan has been centred on one large marquee, then two large ones, and finally the enormous Great Marquee. By the1990s the area under this particular canvas covered about 80 per cent of the whole Show site.
This traditional layout has now changed. The catalyst was the new tri-dimensional superstructure, which is a rigid construction with egg box-like extrusions on its roof. This structure, which will be used for the foreseeable future, comprises a versatile series of small tents, which can be moved about to create courtyard spaces open to the sky, and which will be known as the floral Marquees.
With the departure of the old canvas Marquee, some of the atmosphere will be lost . The damp grass and canvas had a special smell. They are considerably lighter than the old Marquee - on a cloudy day it can be brighter inside than outdoors - and that will give the Show a different atmosphere from any other British flower show. There is a good ventilation to draw out the hot air so in theory, every Chelsea should be a lot cooler.
It is quite possible that other parts of the Chelsea Flower Show will follow , so that Chelsea concentrates on what its visitors really come to see. In Ranelagh Gardens, for example, there are now two feature marquees – one for flower arranging and one for specialist societies – as well as the courtyard gardens, a new single -deck restaurant for cream teas, and much more seating for the weary.

The Role of the Royals

The whole Chelsea Flower Show is spattered with „Royal” allusions. The Royal Horticultural Society was given its first Royal charter by George III in 1809, although the word „Royal” was not added to the name until granted by Queen Victoria in 1861. It runs the Show in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea; and the Royal Family has been patrons, supporters, and assiduous visitors of the event since its inception.
After a shaky start, the Royal Family has become increasingly enthusiastic about the Show. Initially there was no set pattern as to which day or days they attended, but in 1920 the Royal Visits moved from public-access days to Press Day, on the Monday, to avoid the crowds. Gradually their visit – a major highlight for many exhibitors – has become bound up with the Chelsea tradition. The nurserymen and the gardeners pick tiny specks from their lawns, vacuum their sheets of water and change from muddy dungarees to smart clothes in preparation for the reigning monarch’s visit during the Monday afternoon ( and, almost as important, the dark -suited judges, who are also assessing that day)
King George’s popular son Edward VIII both enjoyed and understood gardening. As Prince of Wales not only did he visits with the official Royal Party but would also return for a second look . In 1934 he purchased an entire rock garden from the Show to put in his grounds at Fort Belvedere and actually helped dismantle the display.
His brother George VI and Queen Elizabeth were also keen gardeners and fervent supporters of the Show, with the King showing his own schizanthus in 1947.
The arrival of the Royal party is always eagerly anticipated by exhibitors and those RHS staff allowed in the grounds after the 3.30pm clearance. The scene is set, the Show is complete and it’s most perfect – freshly watered so that myriad fragrances fill the marquees - and crowds are eagerly waiting outside the Bull – Ring entrance. The Royal Family arrived in reverse order of precedence, and each Royal is accompanied by a group of guests. After being greeted by the President, they set off to tour the Show, guided by Council members and RHS staff - each group following a different route.
The royal Family is very rigid about all etiquette . One remembered how the Queen Mother refused to talk to the famous rose grower Harry Wheatcroft, because he was wearing an open – necked shirt without a tie.

In Chelsea Flower Show have everyday different

The Chelsea Flower Show Gala Dinner

Work continues on some of the gardens around the clock to meet the judging deadline. That evening, while gardeners work by arc lights , celebrities brush shoulders with the Rich , the Famous and the Invited at the Chelsea Flower Show Gala Dinner. Chelsea heralds the start of the London High Society Summer and tickets the capital's premiere horticultural dinner fetch up to £1000. The press stay away , in return for a day to themselves and access to the royal family the following day.

The first day - by invitation only

Monday, the first day of the Chelsea Show, is open to the press, celebrities, the Royal Family and invited guests, some no doubt nursing sore heads from the gala dinner the evening before. Chelsea has a long history of Royal Patronage, with the Queen only missing a single show in the past fifty-one years.

Two Days for Members Only

The Tuesday & Wednesday are for RHS members only. RHS membership is strong at over 300,000 people, and both days sold out in well in advance in 2004, the Society's bicentennial year. Judging from the conversations in the queue outside the show, the membership requirement isn't strict.

Two Days for the public

The final two days are open to the general public. The show is well organised and the Gardens and displays are kept in great condition until the end of the show. Designers ensure that plants come on throughout the week. When we visited on Tuesday afternoon there were many plants a couple of days before their best.

The Chelsea Plant Sell-Off

The RHS President claimed this year's show "The Best Show Ever" and rang a bell to end proceedings. At 4:30pm on Friday RHS members can attend the traditional Chelsea Show Plant Sell-Off. Plants and garden material is surgically removed from the gardens and exhibits and sold off to be trundled, bagged, manhandled and dragged back home. The route taken by all of these plants is as varied as the plants themselves.
People armed with bags, boxes, and unsuspecting friends arrive early and scout , looking with narrowed eyes at plants, shrubs, trees, and decorative components of the exhibits and displays. Then, promptly at 4:30, a bell rings . Chaos.

Judgment Days

Shows Director Stephen Bennet have told that winning a medal at Chelsea is the equivalent of getting to Oxbridge and so putting the awards their true perspective.
As a result the RHS lays down very careful judging criteria to ensure fair play and to disarm the critics . These are clearly set out in the Show’s annual catalogue and exhibitors’ manual.
Most awards at Chelsea are made to exhibits that are groups of different plants, flower, fruit, or vegetables. An exhibit can be made up of one plant type alone , from roses to potatoes, in this many garden varieties , or might comprise different plant types , such as conifers or cacti. Alternatively the exhibit might concentrate or special growing techniques, such as bonsai. Other classes take in outdoor exhibits of plants in display and courtyard gardens, or those in display gardens inside the Floral Marquees.
A Gold medal is highest one, and it has no qualifications attached, nor is there any limit to the number awarded. If the judges decide you deserve Gold, you will be given one.
There is enormous variation in the interest created by the awards. A Botanical Certificate may pass unnoticed by all but the most dedicated breeder, while the destiny of the Best Garden Award is often hugely controversial.
In all about 450 people – some of them extremely grand horticulturists – make up the pool of voluntary members of RHS committees from which around 150 judges are selected for Chelsea. As might imagine , to be picked is an enormous honour, end every year the RHS brings in new judges to keep the process fresh and lively .
The annual Chelsea miracle of having flowers in May, which have normally see in January , June or November, needs the experience of actually exhibiting to understand how difficult (or easy) this can be.
Obviously judges must look high – quality, well – grown, and fresh – looking plants, which are carefully displayed and accurately labelled - but some others RHS criteria are more starling. The judges for example, are told to ignore the source of the plants, so that an exhibitor who bought his plants from others has same change of success as one who has cultivated everything himself .
Judging of the show gardens take place from 7.45am to 11 am on the Monday (with security guards to keep everyone out of earshot in case these deliberations are overhead) The courtyard gardens and window boxes are appraised early on Monday morning too, while the rest of the Show is judging between 2.15pm and 5pm. (Exhibits in floristry, floral arrangements, junior displays, and garden design are replaced on Wednesday night , and the new exhibits assessed early on Thursday morning.)
Judging on the Monday follows a well-tested routine : each panel meets at a set time, with its own chairman and secretary , to visit, examine and discuss each exhibit.
Gala Preview on the Monday evening drinks Homeric amounts of champagne. The Council meets at 9pm for a session that goes on for three hours.
No one except the RHS Council and the administration is allowed to know the award winners until the Thursday morning. The Council members therefore totter wearly to bed, while the Show Department take over. Even thought it is now very late, each medal card – about 300 in all – is neatly written out and delivered to the correct exhibit.

Facts about Chelsea Flower Show

Putting on the Show

• Each show is planned 18 months in advance by Royal Horticultural Society staff, exhibitors and contractors
  
• It takes 800 people 3 weeks to build the Showground
  
• Each Show costs about £3 million
  
• About 600 exhibitors show at the Chelsea Flower Show
  
• Over Show week, caterers sell 3,000 bottles of champagne, 18,000 glasses of Pimms, 8,000 bottles of wine, 60,000 pieces of cake, 110,000 cups of tea and coffee , and over 28,000 rounds of sandwiches
  
• The catering staff includes 32 on-site managers, 424 waiting staff, 179 service staff, 69 porters and 52 general helpers
  
• The RHS estimates that exhibitors spend around œ20 million on their five-day displays. One display alone can cost £200,000
  

Chelsea's Visitors

 In 1987, over 247,000 visitors attended the Chelsea Flower Show
 In 1988, visitor numbers were restricted to 170,000 to maximise safety and comfort
 About 25,000 of visitors are from overseas
 Almost 50% of visitors are from South - East England
 1% of visitors are from Scotland and Wales
 1% of visitors come from New Zealand
 55% of visitors are aged 45 to 64 years
 Children under 5 are not permitted at the show
 79% of visitors are female
 Members of the Royal Family make their annual private visit to the Chelsea Flower Show on the Monday afternoon of the Show week
 More than 1, 000 journalists world-wide come to report on the Chelsea Flower Show

Summary

The Chelsea Flower Show has its roots in a Kensington Garden in 1862 when it was known as the RHS Great Spring Show. Fifty years later, the show moved to its current location at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea. The Chelsea Flower Show is the flagship event in the UK gardening calendar and is the start of the RHS Big Three - Chelsea, Hampton Court and Tatton.
The show was a mere three days long until 1925 when it changed to its current five-day format . There is talk of an extra day being added next year to cater to the increased demand for tickets. In the days leading up to the show the site is a frenzy of activity.
Chelsea still lives up to its billing as the greatest flower show on earth, how- ever, and this is because of the sheer quality of the plants on display. In recent times the show gardens have taken centre stage-this year look out for entries from Tom Stuart -Smith, Andy Sturgeon and Christopher Bradley-Hole-but the real stars of the show are the flowers, which can be found inside the giant marquee. The displays here prove that horticulture is one of the last remaining British industries that can boast the same exacting standards as 50 or 100 years ago, and given the amount of work involved, several nurseries which exhibit at this level must do so as much for pride as for profit .
There is also a palpable sense of competition between firms which have been exhibiting at Chelsea for decades-indeed, at one point in the show's history, rivalry between leading nurseries Suttons, Webbs, Carter 's and Toogoods became so unseemly that the RHS withdrew its cup for best nursery display
Chelsea is a visual feast, and there are lighter moments that stay with you long after visitors have left the Show.
Be Inspired Chelsea is an inspiration. It is a visual feast, scores high on temptation and can be tough on the wallet. It is a chance to participate in something special and to glean ideas and insights, encouragement to put it all into play in our own gardens when we get home.
That is all reasons why people love so much Chelsea Flower Show, It can’t be enjoy if visitor don’t feel free or exhibitor don’t love what he will do there. Everybody have seen some flower, there is nothing special, but if there is thousands of them in lots of different garden it makes wonderful feeling , like little miracle.

Used Literature

Books :

Chelsea The Greatest Flower Show On Earth , Leslie Geddes – Brown , 2000 The Penguin Group
Websites:

http://www.bestgardening.com/bgc/events/chelsea006.ht m

http://www.bestgardening.com/bgc/events/chelsea026.ht m

http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/chelsea-flower-show/chelsea-flower-show-2004.html

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/2005/05/15/sunday_am/10052222.txt

http://www.countrylife.co.uk

http://www.queencitynews.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=4001