Chelsea Show Features
Discover the installations and floral sculptures created for 2019
From poignant features to floral artistry, Chelsea 2019 displayed a stunning selection of Show Features.
The D-Day 75 Garden
Set in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the garden by John Everiss marked the 75th anniversary of the 6 June 1944 D-Day Landings, the largest seaborne invasion in world history. The garden aimed to strike a balance between paying tribute to the men and women who lost their lives, as well as marking the immense achievement of the Allied operation.
Bill Pendell MM represents the Normandy veterans in the garden. Bill landed on Gold beach during D-Day as a 22-year-old Despatch Rider in the Royal Signals, attached to the 11th Armoured Division. He was awarded the Military Medal in 1945. Sadly Bill passed away in December, aged 97.
Two life-size sculptures bookmarked the entrance to the garden: veteran Bill sat on a stone plinth looking across at an ethereal image of himself as a 22 year old, made from thousands of individually welded metal washers. Beyond, a further 15 stone plinths featured words capturing the D-Day experiences of 15 veterans.
After Chelsea, the garden will be transported to Normandy and rebuilt at a permanent site above Arromanches overlooking Gold Beach and Mulberry Harbour. It will be opened in a ceremony on the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
Designer: John Everiss Design
Laura Slater X The Plant Room: Land
Textile artist Laura Slater collaborated with botanical design studio The Plant Room to design an immersive exhibition and creative space engaging visitors with the themes of nature, creativity and wellbeing.
The multi-sensory installation space invited visitors to enter and take time out from the hustle and bustle of the show.
Designers: Laura Slater and Zosia Berkieta-Lewis
Chaz Oldham Photography
In the months leading up to the 2019 Chelsea show, Chaz Oldham criss-crossed the country to photograph people from the gardening world, who have all experienced or have a belief in the healing power of all things green.
His photographic celebration of the horticultural world’s healers and healed was displayed as a mini gallery during the show. A rotation of Chaz’s 'raw, honest and truthful' portraits were broadcast on six large screens with accompanying commentary from him.
Photographer: Chaz Oldham
Per Oculus Apum (Through the Eyes of Bees)
This dramatic and captivating sculpture was constructed of British native bee-friendly plants and featured in the tunnel in 2019.
McQueens' aim was to encourage people to experience the world as bees view it through the use of UV light, scent trails and sound demonstrating the natural iridescence of bee-friendly British native plants.
Designer: McQueens Flowers Ltd
Larry Walshe Studios: Welcome Home
Drawing inspiration from Pantone’s colour of 2019, a meadow of full-bloomed coral-toned roses smothered the floor of a pair of wire framework houses situated beside the Bull Ring Gate.
Crafted by skilled artisans from turquoise timber to ensure the most striking visual pairing with the roses, they featured a porch and rafters.
Designer: Larry Walshe
Sponsor: Royal Flowers Inc
JamJar Flowers: 'The hum of the bees is the voice of the garden' Elizabeth Lawrence
London Gate became a proscenium arch, with ‘curtains’ of seasonal herbs and bee-friendly flowers hitched with a ‘tie back’ crafted from contrasting planting.
Through this grand entrance the crowds stepped into the magical world of RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Designer: JamJar Flowers
Sponsor: Carole Bamford, founder of Daylesford Organic
Tattie Rose Flowers: Wild Walls
Wild walls is an installation wrapping around the big RHS letters.
The crumbling wall came from the wilds of Scotland, while the plants and flowers were a reminder of the incredible things that grow without the helping hands of humans. The installation was also home to the fauna that might normally climb, shelter or leap over the wall in its original home.
Designer: Tattie Isles
McQueens Flower School: Honey, I'm Home
A giant installation was created by McQueens in the Artisan area.
During the course of the show, McQueens Flower School tutors worked with visitors to create a striking work of art in Ranelagh Gardens, which hung from the treetops and be at ground level. Visitors were invited to create sculptural bees that were added to a central hub – the hive – which gradually became a stunning piece of collaborative art.
Designer: McQueens Flowers Ltd
Larry Walshe Studios: At Home
A creative and conceptual exploration and interpretation of the most beautiful gardenscape, this display celebrated British craftmanship and all that our beautiful countryside has to offer.
Adorning each side of Bull Ring Gate was a theatrical and striking cascade of the most beautiful botanicals. Using a myriad English-cut foliages that showcase the glorious nature of the British countryside, Larry Walshe crafted a striking and stylised silhouette punctuated throughout with striking coral-toned roses to emulate the most beautiful garden at home.
Designer: Larry Walshe
Sponsor: Royal Flowers Inc
