London Flower Show Hopes You Will Get Into The Garden, Too

By Dana Farrington / NPR

Published May 23, 2016 at 12:14 PM PDT

This story was published more than 8 years ago.

Queen Elizabeth II is pictured beside a floral exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show that features her own image.

The garden designed by Ann-Marie Powell was created to raise awareness of the potential positive effects gardening can have on well-being.

A volunteer stands to the entrance of the 5000 Poppies Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, created by Australians Lynn Berry and Margaret Knight with designer Phillip Johnson. The project began as a small tribute to Berry and Knight's fathers, who fought in World War II.

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The Chelsea Flower Show has been held nearly every year since 1913 in the Royal Hospital Chelsea grounds.

Reg Bolton waters the trees on the Federation of British Bonsai Society stand at the Chelsea Flower Show.

A police officer, with assistance, performs last-minute security checks at the flower show.

At London's annual Chelsea Flower Show, the flora is fit for a queen: shaped in her likeness and crafted in honor of her 90th birthday. The new princess has her own chrysanthemum too.

But this year's event, which opens Tuesday, kicks off with a warning from the Royal Horticultural Society: Britain has a "lost generation of gardeners."

Many people in their mid-20s to 40s never learned how to garden, "and we lost a lot of the skills," RHS Director-General Sue Biggs tells London's Times. The AFP news agency adds:

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"Fewer than one percent of parents were taught gardening at school, compared with 55 percent of grandparents and 40 percent of children, according to a survey conducted by the RHS in 2011."

Against this backdrop, the Royal Horticultural Society continues to pursue its more than 200-year-old mission to "enrich everyone's life through plants."

As part of its campaign to beautify Britain, a featured exhibit gives visitors tips for their own gardening adventures.

"Gardens and gardening do more good to heart and soul than they are ever given credit for," designer Ann-Marie Powell told the RHS.

The 100-plus exhibits in this year's show range from whimsical to traditional — and they don't fit neatly into pots.

A sea of knitted and crocheted poppies covers the Royal Hospital grounds, much like a 2014 installation of ceramic poppies at the Tower of London, honoring soldiers who died in World War I.

The exhibit includes more than 300,000 flowers made by some 50,000 people, according to the U.K.'s Express. The display began three years ago as a small-scale project in Melbourne, and eventually blossomed into the London show.