I love following this forum, enjoy the photos and most of all the shared knowledge. This will be the first post that I have made so please be gentle! Chelsea is always a worthwhile day out, not everyone attends to be seen. There are many serious gardeners amongst the crowd, unfortunately myself included as we are not always the best dressed we don't make it onto the tv coverage! My first visit was in 1989 aged 17 with the assistant headgardener (now husband) from the estate where I was lucky enough to have been taken on as a trainee. I'm still loving Chelsea having been self employed for 22 years, I'm still not rich and have no desire to be, still love what I do. I always gain new knowledge and enthusiasm from plants people at the show. We need to encourage the next generation to consider a horticultural career and I like to think that Chelsea plays its part. Yes its an expensive ticket along with the train fare and I go on Saturday so no missed earnings but its a fab day out! If you got this far thanks for sticking with me!
I would certainly agree that gardening is for everybody but Chelsea excludes many simply due to the cost. I've just done a search for 2019 tickets and come up with £135 for non RHS members! That does make Chelsea 'mainly middle class' and from the footage shown on BBC it's a predominantly white audience.
If the quote was 'Chelsea' rather than 'Gardening' I would totally agree.
I've lifted this direct from the article linked by dove and it simply repeats basically what was said on the show "“I’m always interested in people and Chelsea is heaving with a certain
type: rock-solid middle England, middle-aged, middle-class, grey hair,
grey pound – still a very important part of the constituency. It’s as
white as it gets: I think the only ethnic minority people I met were
stewarding or working in the shops.”
The big difference is that here he refers to Chelsea specifically, not gardening in general.
I went for the first time this year and probably fit solidly into the above demographic. I did get the impression that there was a significant proportion of attendeees who were young, dressed-to-kill and really only interested in drinking Pimms and hoping to catch a glimpse of celebrities.
I did enjoy myself but won't be going again because it just seemed too expensive for the benefits.
Chelsea is what you make of it - a great place to see plants at their very best and chat to the nurserymen and women and/or a chance to see new design ideas to borrow/admire/abhor, a people watching fest and so on and so forth. I've heard and chatted with all sorts of British accents there and also Ozzies, Kiwis, Americans and Europeans - all people there for the plants and gardens and not the social calendar. If you go with a prejudiced mind set you will see what you want to see and not all the skills and pleasure of the growers and visitors form all walks of life.
Gardening is a pursuit for all classes and all races from those growing their own veggies because it gives them cheap, healthy food for the table or those who just want a few flowers to enjoy to those who want to encourage wildlife or grow foods they can't find in the shops - immigrants, refugees, ex-pats come home with exotic recipes - and even those who do oneupmanship by sourcing fancy/elusive/difficult varieties to grow. It has proven economic and health benefits as well as being fun and the more people who get involved the better and more open we will all be.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I'd say it's like another passion of mine: Opera. You can buy a CD and love it as much as the next guy, but might not be able to afford a ticket to see a good production live. I grew up in a council house in a rough , shipbuilding town on the Clyde so I'm in no way middle class but I've loved Classical Music and Opera since I first heard it.
I should very much like to see a world in which we could select our pleasures without worrying about class: opera and ballet are NOT for the effete and football is NOT for the braindead. Whatever your race, age or class, whether you encourage wildlife in your garden or a bowling green lawn I wish we could be less critical of eachother!
Posts
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/may/25/martin-parr-day-at-the-chelsea-flower-show-a-photo-essay
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I did enjoy myself but won't be going again because it just seemed too expensive for the benefits.
Gardening is a pursuit for all classes and all races from those growing their own veggies because it gives them cheap, healthy food for the table or those who just want a few flowers to enjoy to those who want to encourage wildlife or grow foods they can't find in the shops - immigrants, refugees, ex-pats come home with exotic recipes - and even those who do oneupmanship by sourcing fancy/elusive/difficult varieties to grow. It has proven economic and health benefits as well as being fun and the more people who get involved the better and more open we will all be.
I grew up in a council house in a rough , shipbuilding town on the Clyde so I'm in no way middle class but I've loved Classical Music and Opera since I first heard it.