‘Growing wild’ at Chelsea Flower Show with star-studded visitor checklist and sex-themed backyard

You might not expect a high-octane day out at the world’s most prestigious horticultural event – but the Chelsea Flower Show is always full of surprises

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It’s not all tea and crumpets in the gentle world of gardening. Every rose has its thorn – even at the world’s most glamorous horticultural festival, the Chelsea Flower Show, which kicks off tomorrow in west London.

More than 150,000 guests are expected at the five-day event, held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Now Meg Jorsh takes a look at some of the show’s wildest moments…

Uncommon gardeners

Big names are as common as daffodils at Chelsea, where last year’s guest list included the likes of Amanda Holden, Dame Mary Berry and Cate Blanchett.

But this year, Sir David Beckham has gone one better by helping design his own display. The green-fingered ex-England ace worked with none other than King Charles on the garden, as well as TV plant experts Frances Tophill and Alan Titchmarsh.

Their design, called The Curious Garden, is meant to inspire curiosity. Becks, an ambassador for The King’s Foundation, says: “I want to help encourage a new generation to appreciate the benefits of nature and get involved in gardening.”

It features a few personal touches like seven raised beds, in a subtle nod to his iconic shirt number. And the plants include delphiniums – one of the King’s favourite flowers.

No place like gnome

It’s a classy event, the Chelsea Flower Show. That means anything as vulgar as a gnome needs to stay on the suburban patio where it belongs.

Or at least, that was the policy for 99 years. The gnome ban has now been lifted for the first time since 2013, so the cheery figurines will be popping up all over – including in Becks’ royal garden.

A host of celebrities have decorated gnomes for the occasion, which are up for online auction to raise funds for the RHS Campaign for School Gardening.

They include Dames Joanna Lumley and Mary Berry, Cate Blanchett, Alan Titchmarsh and Bill Bailey. Sir Brian May’s gnome – dubbed Billy Bad-Axe – comes complete with a tiny guitar.

Forbidden fruit

As if the gnomes weren’t scandalous enough, this year’s event features one of the naughtiest displays in Chelsea history.

A nooky-themed “pleasure garden,” sponsored by sex toy firm Lovehoney, has been described as a “deliciously daring celebration of plant sexuality.” It features greenery with “suggestive forms,” including – but not limited to – heart-shaped leaves.

Called Aphrodite’s Hothouse, the steamy sanctuary was designed by James Whiting from London-based firm Plants By There.

He says: “Chelsea Flower Show is the perfect stage for storytelling with plants, and I’ve never been one to play it safe. Creating the ultimate pleasure garden with Lovehoney was too irresistible to pass up.”

Organisers hope it helps attract a more adventurous crowd to the show, held on the same site since 1913.

Green machines

It’s secateurs at the ready for some Chelsea exhibitors, as they join the ranks of workers scared AI is coming for their jobs.

This year’s event features three full-sized displays created by AI app Spacelift, from award-winning gardener Matt Keightley. He claims it can replicate the work of human designers to draw up spaces from scratch.

He says: “We’re used to using technology to design every part of our homes – except our gardens. Spacelift changes that. It gives people a starting point, a plan, and the confidence to actually create something – not just imagine it.”

But the designer, who worked with Prince Harry on his 2015 Chelsea display, is now facing a backlash from traditionalists.

Andrew Duff, the chair of the Society of Garden and Landscape Designers, says: “Successful garden design is an art form. It is rooted in creativity, collaboration, experience and human connection.”

Hoe downs

It might be a civilised day out, but that doesn’t mean Chelsea hasn’t weathered the odd scandal in the past.

Back in 1994, designer Paul Cooper caused a storm in a flowerpot with his ‘Cool and Sexy’ garden. It featured giant pictures of naked, kissing couples – and an air vent that blew up unsuspecting women’s skirts.

Then in 2022, the judges sparked controversy by handing their top prize to a scruffy “rewilding” garden, created by Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunt. It featured a recreated beaver habitat, made from sticks pre-chewed by real beavers.

Gardener’s World host Monty Don said: “Is it a garden? If you took the beavers out, I think it’d be much better.”

And last year’s event left some cat-lovers fuming, thanks to the SongBird Survival Garden, designed by Nicola Oakey. It was full of thorny trees and plants intended to stop moggies climbing trees.

• The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is on at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, west London, until Saturday, May 23 www.rhs.org.uk