Chelsea Flower Show

The first Royal Horticultural Society Great Spring Show was held in 1862, at the RHS garden in Kensington.

[1] The Kensington Garden was chosen as a site because the flower shows in Chiswick were experiencing falling visitor numbers due to problems such as poor transport links.

Sir Harry Veitch, the great nurseryman, secured the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea for this one-off event.

[citation needed] In 1937, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth celebrated their Coronation Year, and an Empire Exhibition was staged to mark the occasion.

It featured wattles from Australia, pines from Canada, gladioli from East Africa and even a prickly pear from Palestine.

[citation needed] The Queen attended in 1953, the year of her coronation, and she was also a regular visitor prior to this date with her father, George VI.

The new arrangements for the show were successful in 1980, and a majority of the Council voted for the imposition of a ceiling on the number of tickets sold.

In 1988 a cap had to be placed on the number of visitors attending the show due to problems that were occurring with overcrowding.

[6] A limit of 40,000 visitors per day was imposed – a reduction of 90,000 in total from the previous year – and members were charged for tickets for the first time.

In response to issues with attendance numbers, the council began to look seriously at the idea of moving the show to a larger venue.

The Chelsea Flower Show is attended by 157,000 visitors each year (a number limited by the capacity of the 11-acre (4.5 ha) ground), and all tickets must be purchased in advance.

New plants are often launched at the show and the popularity of older varieties revived under the focus of the horticultural world.