It's always exciting when the Chelsea Flower Show comes to town. The streets of the area are lined with whimsical floral displays, each shop front or restaurant exterior more impressive than the next.
Chelsea in Bloom has transformed the streets of the local area with breath-taking floral displays. The annual competition has grown dramatically each year with Chelsea’s best retailers, restaurants and hotels adorning themselves with creative designs to compete for the coveted awards.
This year’s theme is ‘Summer of Love’, inspired by the Royal Wedding and the cultural revolution of the 1960s. Last year’s ‘Best Floral Display’ winner, Hackett, set the benchmark high along with other award winners Kiki McDonough, Rag & Bone and Smythson all ‘Highly Commended’, Tom Davies for the ‘Innovation’ award and Club Monaco who won ‘People’s Champion’. This year's winners will be announced on Friday 25th May.
Plus, gorgeous blooms aside, there's also plenty else to see and do during the Chelsea in Bloom celebration – from floral-inspired menus and botanical beverages to flower crown workshops and even yoga pop-ups.
Take a look at some of the best displays competing for first prize.
IVY CHELSEA GARDEN
The Ivy Chelsea Garden has partnered with Jenny Packham to create a show-stopping floral installation, dominating the restaurant's entire façade with tumbling yellow and cream flowers.
Incorporating seasonal English garden roses, peonies and lemon mimosas and peppered with green foliage, the cream and yellow colour scheme is complemented by Jenny Packham's upholstered cushions.
HACKETT
Hackett has fully embraced the Summer of love theme with a classic London bus made from thousands of flowers, spilling onto the streets of Chelsea. The bus celebrates Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding – and it's quite the head-turner.
11 CADOGAN GARDENS
Designed and created by florist Larry Walshe, the meadow-inspired design is a nostalgic reminder of hazy summer holidays and meadows filled with wild flowers. Bursting with vibrancy, the design features all the colours associated with the “summer of love”, all woven together in a lush, tumbling arch.
&OTHER STORIES
Inspired by tea-time in an early summer garden, florist Frida Kim has gone for a whimsical arrangement that lines the floors of Chelsea's &OtherStories shop.
JIMMY CHOO
Lush green foliage forms the backdrop to a bed of romantic pink roses along Jimmy Choo's stylish storefront.
CASSANDRA GOAD
Who better to incorporate in a floral display that the queen of floral crowns herself; Frida Kahlo?Cassandra Goad has created a gorgeous floral crown for their window display, honouring the romantic Mexican artist.
NARS
Walk through the explosion of pink and peach tones that adorn Nars' facade.
RAG & BONE
Over on Sloane Square, retailer Rag & Bone have collaborated with Harper and Tom’s to create an eye-catching display inspired by the music and graphic arts that emerged from the ‘Summer of Love’. The design takes a psychedelic twist on the concept with bold swathes and swirls of colour made out of thousands of perennial plants and flowers to cover the façade of the storefront.
RIGBY & PELLER
For its first Chelsea in Bloom entry,Rigby & Peller commissioned Lavender Green Flowers to create Mediterranean-inspired Summer of Love windows, a clever nod to their latest swimwear collection.
LULULEMON X BLOOMBOX
Lululemon’s approach to wellbeing led to a collaboration with Bloombox Club, whose ethos of Breathe, De-stress & Grow fits seamlessly into the fold.
Adorning the shop windows with a range of plants, creating an urban jungle, is right up Bloombox Club’s street and its mission to help people re-discover the wellbeing benefits of plants. Not only are plants more sustainable than flowers, they have the ability to reduce stress hormones, boost the immune system and even increase happiness and productivity.
The plant display fits with lululemon’s current ‘Let Your Mind Run Free’ campaign, with two mannequins running through a sea of plants. The pop-up plant shop runs between Monday 21st - Sunday 27th May, selling a range of indoor plants and pots fit for any space.
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