War commemorations, anniversaries and scientific displays are just some of the highlights within the Great Pavilion at the 2014 RHS Chelsea Flower Show, sponsored by M&G Investments (May 20-24).
Birmingham City Council has joined forces with the Royal British Legion and the charity Thrive to honour the First World War through a floral exhibit which will capture the story of life on the frontline. The display will feature important wartime memorabilia as well as giant poppies and reconstructions of the trenches where troops were stationed. Pennard Plants will also be commemorating the outbreak of the war with two back to back gardens reflecting the times preceding and following 1914. Heritage cultivars will grow in the formal pre-1914 garden while wildflowers including poppies will dominate the post-1918 area.
Several exhibitors will celebrate milestones at the 2014 show including Perennial, which has teamed up with designer Jo Thompson to mark the charity's 175th anniversary. Jo will work with Jim Buttress and Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants to produce the display. Jon Wheatley from Stone Barn will create a floral spectacle to celebrate 50 golden years of South West in Bloom reflecting the diversity of the area. This will feature dahlias as well as a selection of new plants. Raymond Evison will launch a number ofClematis. One of these, chosen to celebrate his 25th Gold medal at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2013, features in a set of Guernsey postage stamps.
The 2014 RHS Chelsea Flower Show welcomes a number of new nurseries, including Drointon Nurseries, which will exhibit a display of Auricula primulas giving a more contemporary theme to the traditional presentations of this type of plant. Brighter Blooms will make its debut with a display ofZantedeschia, and PW Bamboo will also display a new bamboo exhibit.
The new Discovery area in the Great Pavilion, which replaces RHS Environment, will be full of scientific and educational exhibits including Sparsholt College's ‘The Paper Chase' display on the botanical source of paper and how it is used in everyday life. Scotts Miracle Grow will bring a display of plants grown solely by schoolchildren, demonstrating how differing composts, plant foods and care regime affect how plants grow. At the Our Planet display visitors will control the flight of bumblebees and butterflies by playing an interactive game.
The Great Pavilion will also host many other exciting displays including the M&S Great Pavilion exhibit, designed by Sallis Chandler Landscape Design. This will highlight the commercial production of cut flowers and the harmonious relationship this process has to beneficial insects and pollinators in the UK and around the world.
The Great Pavilion will be bursting with more than 100 other exhibits from the world's best nurseries, growers, florists and floral arrangers making it an unmissable attraction at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
