The organisers of the Chelsea Flower Show continue to ban Garden Gnomes from their annual event much to the shock and horror of the locals.
A report of the continuing ban has been highlighted in the last remaining London Evening newspaper " Evening Standard"
Garden Gnomes are present in many London gardens and people feel they should not be excluded from the flower show.
After all these chaps sometimes have great adventures travelling all around the world only to suddenly turn up in their own front garden.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...mes/article.do

Does that means Hartley and CW are not welcome either?

Well, talk about taking money under false pretences,

We've been RHS members for decades. I certainly didn't know they went in for this gnomist bigotry. And gnomisim (wiki it) has a great deal more intellectual cred than a few bloody plants.

Until the RHS removes this disgraceful discrimination, our subscription will be cancelled.

I have a dream. One day a gnome will be King of this great land. But how long, O Lord, how long?

Do they still let the Royals in?

Ah, but Jekka McVicar got her gold medal all the same.

And the plasticine garden (not a real flower in sight) got a special plasticine gold:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/chelsea/small_gardens/may.shtml

How sad the scism. Fierce debate rips apart gardening's upper echelons. Trowels shaken in anger.

Anyone willing to talk about strawberries with a non RHS member? Mine are just coming in now, and the best ever. I wonder if it's just a good year for them, or something I'm doing right, or the absence of gnomes?

>>Trowels shaken in anger.<<

No, no, no - that's not the RHS way. This is the one instance where a British person might actually say "How quaint - taste is so individual, don't you think?". It's all in the tone of voice.

It sounds like the garden gnome is the London equivalent of the pink flamingo. I used to be prejudiced against pink flamingos, but after the town of Brewster on Cape Cod made a bar owner remove them as tasteless (a decision they had to rescind after renegade flocks of flamingos popped up in protest on lawns all over town), I have embraced tastelessness in gardens as an expression of creative freedom.

>>all in the tone of voice<<

I tried to come up with something about how having an RHS member speak to me in that tone would make me feel like a salted snail, and then tie it to the snails in my strawberry bed, but somehow I can't pull it off.

Patrick, if you write these things down in novel form I will stand in line to buy the book and have it autographed.

>>I tried to come up with something about how having an RHS member speak to me in that tone would make me feel like a salted snail, and then tie it to the snails in my strawberry bed, but somehow I can't pull it off.<<

Ah, but the crushing riposte would be "Always assuming one has taste in the first place, don't you think?", after which neither party would be speaking to the other for several years anyway. Do you think I could set up classes in this sort of thing?

Something along the lines of Prof. Higgins and Audrey Hepburn? Repetition, drills?

Is there a specific weekend in May that the flower show is traditionally held-like the 3rd weekend in May? I'm planning a trip for next year and would love to see the show if possible.

Yes it is always held at the same time in May it is part of "the Season". Here is the official website http://www.rhs.org.uk/whatson/shows/chelsea2009/ It is not cheap, some days are for RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) members. It can be very crowded and tickets need to be booked early. The last day some of the plants are sold off so it is frenetic and disappearing as you watch. You can get some idea of what is involved from the BBC broadcasts which will probably still be available on the internet. The broadcasters enter the gardens but the public doesn't have the same access. There have been a lot of posts on this topic and getting tickets in the past.

Chelsea is generally the week that ends w/ the May Bank Holiday. This year it was May 19-23 (I attended on the 22nd). So the dates should be May 25-29 next year.

And there STILL won't be any gnomes

Well of course gnomes are banned from the Flower show. Don't you know what havoc gnomes can cause in a garden?
That's why Molly Weasly had ron and Harry degnome the garden with Fred and George, when they arrived home from Hogwarts for the summer.

It's about time they banned Robbie Williams....

Bluzmama, I was in London this May and hadn't even realised about the show until I was just walking past. They had a ticket returns tent as all the original tickets had long been sold out. I was able to get a ticket from 3.30pm until 8.00pm when the show closed. It cost 24.50pounds. The show was VERY crowded, unpleasantly so. If we hadn't have been leaving that evening I would have prefered to buy the 5.00pm (or 5.30pm) ticket for 18.00 which would have been plenty of time for me.

They do let people in before the ticket times, i.e. I was there at 2.50, 40 mins before the "time" and they let us in, so I am sure they would do that for the late entry as well. The tickets were no cheaper buying them as returns because they are so highly sought after.

I could not have stood to walk around for the whole day it was just too crowded and it is very difficult to carry anything back "home" with you if you live overseas.

Hope this helps with any decisions you may have to make. There are heaps and heaps of stalls as well as the displays. To look around the displays you certainly wouldn't need more than 2 - 3 hours.

Schnauzer

England is one huge flower show in late May, at no additional charge.

For any real garden fanatics - it is well worth joining the RHS so you can attend on Chelsea's member days. I didn't this year because of my schedule that wouldn't allow me to attend then. The only time I could go was the Friday afternoon/evening session. I knew ahead of time it would be totally slammed - but crowded is better than nothing.

But for anyone who really wants to attend the show, definitely consider joining the RHS early in the year and buying member-day tix when they first go on sale. Member days are crowded - but NOTHING like the public days.