Celebs get preview of Chelsea Flower Show

Queen Elizabeth and celebrities got the first look at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, before the world famous gardening show opens its doors to the public.

Among the celebrities visiting the Chelsea Flower Show today were TV presenter Ben Fogle, The Great British Bake Off judge Mary Berry, model Jerry Hall, and property guru Kirstie Allsopp.

The show gardens include a design by Cleve West inspired by ancient Persian gardens, Italian-style formal gardens, and work by Chelsea newcomer Matthew Childs which highlights opportunities for nurturing future potential.

Nurturing potential was a theme picked up by TV presenter Dan Pearson, who said he had been discouraged from pursuing a career in horticulture as a youngster because it was seen as something for people who did not do well at school — something he fears has not changed.

“The way to attract more young people into horticultural industries is for these careers to be seen as valuable and remunerated appropriately.”

Gardener Alan Titchmarsh was among the celebrities that got a sneak peak of this year's show. Pic: PA.

But he said: “This year it is noteworthy the number of young designers here. There are four of them at least under the age of 30, that’s tremendously inspiring.”

Elsewhere at the show are dresses made of flowers, a garden that was being tended by Vikings and a 1914 Potter’s Garden, representing a rural potter going to war in France.

The effects of old and modern conflicts are being remembered in horticulture as the show marks the centenary of the First World War. Designers have drawn on family experiences of war from the Somme to Afghanistan to create displays for this week’s event at the Royal Hospital Chelsea.

The flower show also contains gardens addressing themes from fashion to sustainability and drawing on inspiration from around the world.

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Twiggy looked blooming marvellous as Chelsea Flower Show afforded celebrities a sneak preview. Pic: Getty Images.

UK growers — including some who battled floods for weeks in Somerset earlier this year — are showcasing their produce, while one herb grower has recreated the vegetable garden where Peter Rabbit liked to eat.

And veteran Chelsea BBC presenter Alan Titchmarsh has returned to his roots with a garden that celebrates 50 years of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Britain in Bloom competition — and his 50 years in horticulture.

Actors Rowan Atkinson and Nigel Havers read poems by First World War poets who died during the conflict, on the No Man’s Land ABF The Soldiers’ Charity garden to mark the centenary of the First World War.