CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW

It was amazing. It was gorgeous. It was also pouring down rain and now I can't move.

I have some photos to post, which I will in a bit.

It's funny--I have lots of things to say about the show, but am exhausted and typing them seems such an effort. The gardens were fantastic, the flower stalls were fantastic. Amazing bonzai trees and pitcher plants and delphiniums and every other type of plant you can imagine. We got soaked.

I was surprised to see that most of the plants I really liked, I have planted seeds for already, and they are growing in my back garden. Or front garden. There were lots of foxgloves, after all.

I figured I wouldn't buy a lot of plants, although they sell everything off at 4 pm. But I thought I would see a lot of things and note down what I liked. I figured it would be too hectic at selling-off time, and also, the growers 'force' the plants so that they are flowering for the show, because of course they will be judged there. But, you know, say you buy a delphinium that's in bloom now, well, it's not going to be blooming in a month. So although I saw many that I'd like, I figure I have a whole year to try to get one myself, as anything I bought at the show wouldn't be really blooming normally until then anyway.

However, I did get two orchids and a tiny little Monkey Puzzle. I made Mike carry the Monkey Puzzle, which was humiliating to him. In all fairness, he was also carrying an orchid, and people were eyeing the orchid jealously, but then when they saw his tiny little tree, they MAY have snickered just a little.

So when sell-off time comes (oh, I guess I didn't explain that--the show lasts for the better part of a week, and on the last day, at 4 pm, a lot of the exhibits sell off some or all of their display plants), they have a loudspeaker that counts down from five to one, and then a bell rings, and PANDEMONIUM ERUPTS.

So we got my little orchids and my tiny tree. And then we left with all of the brochures full of plants that I am going to buy or get seeds for or or or or...!

As we were walking toward the gates, as I have mentioned, people kept looking at our plants. This is really how it works. Everyone is leaving after the sell-off, and we're all looking at everyone else to see if the plants they're carrying are better or worse than ours, and we're secretly hating all of the people who have cooler plants and feeling slightly smug when ours are better.

So we get to the gate, and there's this guy with a bullhorn announcing, "SLOANE SQUARE TO THE LEFT, VICTORIA STATION TO THE RIGHT. SLOANE SQUARE TO THE LEFT, VICTORIA STATION TO THE RIGHT." As we passed, he said, "SLOANE SQUARE TO THE LEFT, VICTORIA STATION TO THE RIGHT. MAN WITH A SMALL TREE IN A COKE CONTAINER."

Mike gave me the dirtiest look you can possibly imagine.

This is rambling, and I should probably edit it when I am not quite so exhausted.