The Chelsea Flower Show has been held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, London every year since 1913, apart from gaps during the two World Wars. Once Britain's largest flower show (it has now been overtaken by RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show), it is still the most prestigious.

Key facts

• The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is organised by the Royal Horticultural Society which was founded in 1804.
• In 1927 there was a campaign to get the RHS to ban foreign exhibits from RHS Chelsea to reduce competition with British firms. The RHS refused saying, ‘horticulture knows nothing of nationality.’
• In 1932 the rain at the Show was so severe that a summer house display fell to pieces. One very wet year an exhibitor named it ‘The Chelsea Shower Flow’.
• The Great Pavilion is roughly 11,775 square metres or 2.90 acres, enough room to park 500 London buses.
• Of the firms that exhibited at the first Show in 1913, three can still be seen at the Show today: McBean’s Orchids, Blackmore & Langdon and Kelways Plants.
• A cap of 157,000 was placed on the number of visitors to the showground in 1988.

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