Pollen Nation

Chelsea Flower Show gets a Chelsea Hotel edge

If you're just a modern guy (who's had it in the ear before, of course), you might want to waggle your skin-tight-jean-clad self down to the Chelsea Flower Show, which has decided to go all rock'n'roll on us this year. Well, a tiny bit of it has, at any rate.

Amid the usual lilies, roses and gerberas, The Children's Society has designed a garden inspired by Iggy Pop's 'Lust for Life'.

Far from being filled with hypnotised chickens and the wares of Johnny Yen, the garden is said to "represent children's dreams through vibrantly coloured planting and 'thought bubbles' representing the dreams of children and their manifestation into reality. An arc of water, representing the power and triumph of the human spirit, traverses the garden in rhythmic bursts to the beat of Lust for Life."

Sounds like it'll be worth a million in prizes...

Spot the difference: Iggy and The Stooges show by iris.rigby and Chelsea Flower Show by Andy G

Chelsea Flower Show
Royal Hospital, Chelsea, London
22-26 May 2007

Tags: flowers, Chelsea Flower Show, The Children's Society, Iggy Pop

Southport Flower Show 2006

Hop into a lily-clad black cab and head to the garden by the sea to hang out with the red-socked  Roddy Llewellyn, TV fella Diarmuid Gavin, and some of the greatest beauties in Britain. No, not 80s chart-topper-turned-garden-guru Kim Wilde or previous Miss World winner Aneta Kreglicka (although these lovelies have showed their faces there in the past) – the beauties we’re talking about are the floral guests at this year’s water-themed Southport Flower Show.

Southport Flower Show 2006

Southport Flower Show 2006
Victoria Park, Southport
17-20 August 2006

Tags: flowers, Southport, flower show

The floral carpet of Brussels

Every second year since 1971, Brusselian flower lovers weave a magic carpet of begonias outside the city’s Grand-Place. Spanning 77 m x 24 m, this year’s floral floor covering was inspired by ‘the alchemy of the Middle Ages’.

Floral carpet of flowers by William Helsen

Fourteenth magnificent floral carpet
Grand-Place of Brussels
12-15 August 2006

Unlikely to make it there? Reading Cicily Corbett’s delightful first-hand account will more than make up for missing the spectacle.

Tags: flowers, floral carpet, Brussels, Tapis de Fleurs

Sandringham Flower Show

Bored of the broads in Norfolk? You could always pop down to the Sandringham Flower Show.

It’s been going for 125 years, so there must be something interesting to see – and, after all, the late Queen Mum was a devout attendee.

www.sandringham-estate.co.uk

A right royal horticultural spectacular

What are you doing during the first week of July? If the idea of strawberries and cream on Henman Hill doesn’t appeal, consider some strelitzias and crocuses at Hampton Court instead.

The usual fare at royal palaces may be foie gras and vol au vents de swan, but from 4-9 July, haute cuisine will be replaced by horticultural hors d’oeuvres at the world’s largest annual flower show. Uh huh, it’s even bigger than Chelsea.

Tags: flowers, flower show, Hampton Court

Morning glory? Just visit Oasis

Watch out strelitzias! Your status as the ultimate in architectural flowers is about to be outdone.

As part of Architecture Week and the London Architecture Biennale 2006, a 12-metre high kinetic structure that mimics the design of a growing flower has been installed at Clerkenwell Green, London.



Using daylight energy bolstered by power from a hydrogen fuel cell and a wind turbine, the ‘flower’ opens and closes its petals in response to the sun and moon.

The eco-friendly sculpture, dubbed ‘Oasis’ (possibly something to do with the human-sized pods of fresh air and soothing sounds at its base),  responds not only to light, but to its environment. At night, the energy stored by the flower during the day powers a light show that’s triggered by the movement of people around it.

Tags: flowers, sculpture, architecture, London Architecture Week, London Oasis, London, Clerkenwell