chelsea

Chelsea is known for buns, pensioners, and flowers.  Chelsea buns are heavenly, Chelsea pensioners are charming old heroes, and Chelsea Flower Show is where Lady Sunshine and I were on Thursday.   What a great joy to share it with her. I can't begin to describe it all, you'll just have to go the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) site and check it out.  But imagine -

walking through a clematis tunnel

sitting in a many coloured rose bower, with the scent all around and above you - some of those pink and apricot shades were so subtle, you just had to gaze at them

cascades and carpets of orchids

160 different kinds of tulips, all lovelier than the last

the children's gardens full of the fruit and veg they'd grown, and a profile of the queen in flowers, down to the last little saxifrage for her earring

rows and rows of old trainers hanging up with veg growing out of them (told you that would happen if you didn't clean them)

stained glass windows that aren't stained glass at all, they're patterns of vegetables

bronze irises against a wooden frame

waterfalls

floral chandeliers...


I could go on and on.  You can only go so long having your breath taken away before you suffocate, and have to sit in the shade with a glass of Pimms to recuperate.  The only problem was the heat, which was a bit much for wimpy little me.  Lady Sunshine is tougher than I am and once spent a few weeks helping at an AIDS clinic in Uganda, so she was brilliant, but I think even she wilted a bit.  And just when you find the heat stifling, you come across a display that's all green and white, and you feel cooler just looking at it.

To share Chelsea with you, I suggest you put Chelsea Flower Show 2012 into a search engine and see it for yourself.  The second thing I suggest is this - from the above, or from the website, chooseyour favourite thing.  It maybe a waterfall, the roses, or the orchids.  Then, when you go to bed tonight, create it in your imagination.  Feel the cool petals, smell the fragrance, see it.  Go to sleep tonight in your favourite garden.

Sweet dreams.