It’s not too late for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show – see our video highlights

I spent a very blustery day being swept along with the excited crowds and baying photographers all trying to get a good look at the gardening delights at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The overgrown yet manicured flower beds, the abstract sculptures, the Taiwanese lily/wedding exhibition – oh, and the never-ending bloom of celebrities.

Fame vs flowers

The celebs definitely pulled the crowds in this year – from A-list movie stars to teen-throb boy bands and quite a few well known garden and home experts. (Of course George Clarke was there – he’s popping up as an ambassador for every home show this year. We’ll be BFFs soon, mark my words.)

Image credit: AustinPowers

Personally, I was there for the stunning floral displays, quirky plants pots and signage, and quaint ramshackle sheds, not the pomp and ceremony (silly me!). You couldn’t ignore the celeb-mania that the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is so evidently all about and unnecessarily uses to draw in the huge crowds.

Who did mydeco bump into?

Quite literally – one minute I was admiring the petunias (the favourite of the show, it seems) and the next minute Dame Helen Mirren is standing next to me in a blood red coat peering at the show map. Despite her powdery orange tint (afterwards I didn’t know what I was staring at the most – that, or the fact it was the Helen Mirren)  she is as beautiful in the flesh as she is on screen.

Gwyneth Paltrow actually glowed on the B&Q catwalk (I’m still trying to work out what the connection is); design diva Zandra Rhodes dazzled with her trademark neon pink hair (‘Where’s all the champagne? I should have had at least three glasses by now,’ she complained loudly); Vanessa Redgrave, CBE, looked effortlessly sophisticated as she talked about the beauty of roses;  and Will Young told a crowd to pee on their flower beds…

Play Spot the Celebrity in our Chelsea Flower Show video – and there’s even a few flowers thrown in, if you’re interested.

Verdict? For garden design, go to the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show; for fame, go to the Chelsea Flower Show.

Or simply stay where you are. You can design stunning gardens from the comfort of your seat – take a look this 3D interior garden design by mydeco community member jamez:

Image credit: jamez