This year's Chelsea in Bloom took place during this week and finished today, May 28th. The theme for this year's Chelsea in Bloom festival, which coincides with the Chelsea Flower Show, is "British Icons". Chelsea in Bloom is a free exhibition that visitors can walk, and it is largely concentrated down a mile of King's Road from Sloane Square and then up Sloane Street from Sloane Square to Knightsbridge tube station. Due to the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in a few days, many of the exhibitions pay tribute to the queen and royalty symbols as well as the red, white, and blue colours of the flag. There are nearly ten of the official larger displays and close to a hundred shops, cafes, and restaurants participating for coveted awards and publicity. This year, there are also seven egg sculptures to spot, which I covered previously, but I still did not find one of the elusive eggs: Eggs of an Era Platinum Jubilee Sculpture Trail.
Chelsea in Bloom is only held across five days, so it does get busy. I attended on Friday after work as I was working all week. Arriving early in the morning is the best chance to see the exhibits without the crowds, as the area is so busy during the day. Of course, most people are visiting with friends and family and try to get a lot of selfies and photographs of themselves with the different displays. This does become annoying when you have to contend with so many people, especially the ones who are determined to take two dozen different poses to get a perfect photo or the mothers with herds of children running up to the displays. I watched as one child tore apart one of the displays, and the mother did not say a word.
I will cover the large official displays first, or what they call "Central Displays" on the official map. These displays were created by different florists or artists for Cadogan estates and the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Central Displays:
Clarence the Corgi is a royal corgi with a crown, a nod to the queen's favourite breed of dog. The corgi sits on a bed of flowers in the Union Jack pattern.
Royal Coat of Arms.
Mad Hatter's Tea Party, inspired by "Alice in Wonderland".
Floral Mini. The MINI, decorated in Union Jack, is an icon.
The Queen's Guard.
Floral Vintage post boxes. Each of the post boxes, a British icon in their own right, are from a different era. Visitors who wish to send a letter to the queen to wish her well for the Platinum Jubilee can post a letter (no stamp required) in the middle post box.
The Queen's Head.
Jubilee Street Party. This is inspired by the queen jubilee street parties that have taken place in the past and will take place again next week. This display is inspired by Vivienne Westwood.
Down the Rabbit Hole. This is another "Alice in Wonderland" display.
To follow are the private displays placed by different businesses, cafes, restaurants, and shops.
The British telephone box was invented in 1926, the same year that the queen was born.
Another tribute to the queen, and this one got a lot of interest. It shows the queen's head with an iconic telephone box, post box, and a display that creates the Union Jack. It was located near the Sloane Club.
The underground symbol and an iconic British red bus feature as two of the icons on Dermaolica in Duke of York Square.
The TFL underground roundel (symbol) is on display in Duke of York Square.
The British classic MINI car makes a floral appearance at Duke of York Square next to the restaurants.
The Beatles feature at Duke of York Square.
Partridges has a very British display with red, white, and blue and Union Jacks.
Some exhibitions feature Britain's Olympic medals, such as this one at Nike.
One of the most popular displays, this royal guard holding a corgi's lead is situatied at a restaurant Sticks 'n' Sushi on King's Road.
The shop "Rabbit" features the iconic storybook and illustrated rabbit, "Peter Rabbit".
Astrid and Miyu's shop front display received the People's Vote.
Clothing shop Jigsaw used a slightly different approach with the floral display and used yellow and orange umbrellas that appear to rain down onto flower beds.
Crowns feature a lot this year, and Peggy Porschen's cafe has one with their display. This cute cafe always have a flower display all year.
This flower shop had the most impressive crown.
Timothy Oulton's approach was a range of musical instruments, a Union Jack couch, and red riding jackets.
This corgi in a shop window was very difficult to photograph, but it looked so impressive.
Cadogan Arms has a beautiful display that spells out "PUB" in yellow and purple flowers.
One of my favourite displays was on the front of a restaurant just off King's Road, and it's a little off the track. This display throws out so many British icons from gardening to music with the lips from "Rolling Stones" cover.
Tea and kettles were also a popular theme, and some of the businesses that had this theme also went down the "Alice in Wonderland" aspect, and this one features a rabbit, mushrooms, and other magical elements.
David Bowie is featured in illustration form surrounded by a rainbow of colours.
The queen's head, which appears to look like her image on the stamp, was also a common sight made of flowers.
Horse racing with a horse made from moss was also used as an iconic British pastime.
Books and famous characters, such as "Winnie the Pooh" also featured.
Peter Jones department store used purple and yellow flowers along with the Queen's Platinum Jubilee image.
This was a great display, again featuring "Alice in Wonderland", in front of a shop at Sloane Square.
The Beatles made another feature.
I think this one was Elton John.
The corgis were also popular, and these ones in front of a perfume shop had attracted a large crowd.
One of the largest displays is the "Love letter to the queen", featuring Royal Mail and parcels and letters being put into a post box. It is such a large display and very popular but also hard to photograph.
Savills used the opportunity to advertise.
I loved the flower walls on Cartier and Tiffany.
Two displays of kettles are side-by-side near the bottom of Pavillion Road.
An afternoon tea party is laid out, and this got a lot of interest.
The above was called "Shakespeare's Garden" and featured many books.
Another "Alice in Wonderland" theme...
I loved the Spitfire. It was one of my favourites.
This hotel had an impressive display of primarily red, white, and blue.
Another display featuring the queen.
The following installation or display was at The Ivy Chelsea Garden. They do great displays here at the different times of the year, and this one "Return to the Wild", has a lot of photo opportunities.
This was my first ever official visit to Chelsea in Bloom, although I have walked by some of the displays in previous years. As it is only on for a few days and ends on the Saturday, it's always a little tough for me to visit it.
I did attend the Chelsea Flower Show in 2016, and you can read about it here:
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