Chelsea

• King Charles and Queen Camilla visited the RHS Chelsea Flower Show to view the displays, including a garden co-designed by Sir David Beckham and Alan Titchmarsh. • The event marked the official lifting of the long-standing ban on garden gnomes, which were previously prohibited from the show. • High-profile celebrities such as Joanna Lumley, Bill Bailey, and Sir Brian May participated in the festivities, embracing the return of the gnomes.

Critics of Royal Horticultural Society turn hose on corporate sponsorship, peat-free compost and general ‘wokery’There was King Charles and David Beckham as well as a nocturnal garden to support bats and a Viking-themed allotment full of edible plants in pots. The Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea flower show, which ends on Saturday, was as lovely and celebrity-glittered as ever, most agreed.But dig a little deeper, say critics on the conservative wing of the RHS – including one spectacularly outspoken former contributor – and not everything is necessarily smelling of roses. Continue reading...

Garden featuring giant woman carved out of tree makes designer one of few female artists to winFeaturing a giant, slumbering woman carved out of a fallen tree, Sarah Eberle’s hauntingly beautiful Chelsea Flower Show garden has won the top prize.Eberle, now the Royal Horticultural Society’s most decorated gardener, is a rarity; she’s one of only three women to have won Best in Show at Chelsea as solo designers in its 100-year history. Continue reading...

Bill Bailey and Alan Titchmarsh paint gnomes for king’s garden at event in one-off to raise funds for RHS campaignGarden gnomes should make a permanent return to the Chelsea flower show, celebrities who have painted the mythical creatures for the king’s garden at this year’s event, have said.At the high-end event, which kicks off on Tuesday in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, south-west London, the “tacky” statutes been frowned upon since 1927. Speaking at the show’s press day, the comedian and musician Bill Bailey and the gardener and author Alan Titchmarsurged the Royal Horticultural Society to lift the gnome ban permanently. Continue reading...

Eden Project founder wants to inspire councils to build community gardens so young people can grow vegetablesLocal councils should “rip up asphalt” to build community gardens so young people can grow vegetables, a co-founder of the Eden Project has said.Tim Smit, who opened the giant biomes in Cornwall in 2000, has designed an “edimental” garden for the Chelsea flower show with the landscape designers Harry Holding and Alex Michaelis. The concept behind it is that plants such as cabbages and strawberries are beautiful but edible and should be placed alongside traditional bedding plants. Continue reading...

Horticulturalists express alarm after award-winning Matt Keightley launches app that can automate designsWith glasses of champagne sipped among the peonies, Chelsea flower show is generally a friendly and genteel occasion. But this year, the secateurs have been drawn as gardeners clash over the use of AI in designing the exhibits.Matt Keightley, an award-winning designer who has created gardens for figures including Prince Harry, is using artificial intelligence to design his garden for the prestigious show, held at the Royal Hospital gardens in Chelsea, London, next week. Continue reading...

Lawyers for oligarch claim freezing of £5.3bn of assets ‘unfair and abusive’ amid row over use of funds for Ukraine Roman Abramovich has gone to the European court of human rights (ECHR), claiming that a criminal investigation into his financial affairs by the Jersey authorities has breached his human rights, according to reports.The former owner of Chelsea FC, who is sanctioned in the UK over his links to Vladimir Putin, is under investigation in Jersey over allegations of corruption and money laundering. Continue reading...