So far, the Chelsea Flower Show is very much going ahead for 2021, and in due course we will find out more details of how it will operate, particularly during the build-up period when there are usually thousands of contractors on site building the Show gardens and exhibits.
5 of the gardens that Kelways were involved with for the cancelled 2020 show are all set for 2021. The company will reveal which they are once the RHS have made the formal announcement in November. They also have 3 new Chelsea projects that they hope to start working on soon.
In the wake of the cancelled 2020 show, there are a few advantages to those gardens which have deferred to 2021. Firstly most of their plants have already been sourced and have been growing on the nursery for 12 months or more already, so there is less plant hunting needed.
Secondly, these plants are already ''Chelsea size''. When these are then potted on during the next few weeks, they will become super-size for Chelsea 2021 which will give the garden an even more mature look than would normally be seen at Chelsea.
Trees that were sourced from Europe for 2020 also have had a season in the UK in a container, and will be far less subject to the dreaded transport shock which often hits a newly imported tree at the Chelsea Flower Show whereby all the leaves fall off and the plant looks terrible.
Thirdly, there are always plants which are experimental, in that the nursery team have never grown them before and are unsure how they behave, and when they peak to flower. 2020 has been a tremendous opportunity to have a practice run and to learn how an unfamiliar plant performs under a Chelsea growing regime. This has been an invaluable opportunity, particularly with a couple of the international gardens containing a lot of unfamiliar plants.
Matt and his team are currently frantically potting taking advantage of the mild conditions and the late summer sunshine.
For more information:
Kelways
01458 250 521
sales@kelways.co.uk
www.kelways.co.uk