Panamas at the ready! Celebrities descend on the Chelsea Flower Show as London's horticultural extravaganza prepares to welcome Kate and William together for the first time
- The Chelsea Flower Show runs from the 24th to the 28th May at the Royal Hospital Grounds in West London
- Monday is traditionally reserved for celebrities and royal visitors; with the Queen, Prince Philip, Kate and William all planning to attend the horticultural extravaganza later today
- Famous faces arriving this morning included Judi Dench, Mary Portas and Jerry Hall and husband Rupert Murdoch
- Highlights of this year's gardens include the 5000 Poppies Project, which features 300,000 crocheted poppies in the hospital grounds, and a colourful Covent Garden Flower Market tribute to the Queen's 90th birthday
For high society, it is the highlight of the summer calendar, and this year's Chelsea Flower Show doesn't look like disappointing the host of celebrities and royals who are attending the prestigious event.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are making their first appearance together later today on Royal Hospital Road, arriving to admire the Princess Charlotte chrysanthemum, which is named after their daughter.
As the gates opened at Chelsea's Royal Hospital this morning though, it was celebrities who were first out of the floral blocks. Some 160,000 visitors will pour through the SW3 gates this week, with actress Naomie Harris, Mary Berry, Judi Dench Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch this morning leading the way.
Scroll down for video
Bond girl Naomie Harris was visually in sync with the blooms at the Bunchoose Nurseries this morning as she posed wearing a tailored white suit with shorts
Harris, aka Miss Moneypenny, appeared wearing stylish beaded flats, smiling as she perused the blooms on display at a show garden at the Chelsea Flower Show
Golden couple Jerry Hall and a panama-wearing Rupert Murdoch arrived on press day at Royal Hospital Road, with Jerry paying tribute to the poppy garden which is one of the show-stealers at this year's event with her pretty red and white dress
Smiling in the sunshine: The couple, who married in London earlier this year, looked very happy in each other's company
Co-ordinating couples! Alan Titchmarsh and wife Alice opted for lime green and stripes as they attend the famous horticultural show while Mary Portas and wife Melanie Rickey looked fresh out of Woodstock in their bright floral designs
A definite hippy vibe seemed to be influencing the SW3 crowd on press day with Mary Portas opting for Wonka-style sunglasses and Kirsty Allsop donning a navy, orange and cream frock
See and be seen: Amongst the show gardens on press day were plenty of stars including dancing Brendan Cole and his wife Zoe and, left, a casually-dressed Ben Fogle and wife Marina
Harris looked particularly glamorous, wearing a tailored cream short suit which perfectly matched the blooms she was posing alongside.
Also spotted getting a first glimpse at the show gardens ahead of mere mortals were Judi Dench, a smitten-looking Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch, Mary Portas and wife Melanie Rickey and show stalwart Alan Titchmarsh, looking dashing in a lime green tie that matched his wife Alice's outfit.
Great British Bake Off hostess and Royal Horticultural Society ambassador Mary Berry, 81, is having a pale yellow rose named after her and arrived looking suitably regal in a pale turquoise jacket and navy dress.
The Mary Berry rose comes from the TV cook's favourite grower, Harkness Roses in Hertfordshire.
She said: 'It is very exciting. I have always liked Harkness roses and the idea that every rose they grow is British. 'The Mary Berry rose has very green foliage and the most beautiful scent. That is very important for me in a good cut flower.'
Other celebrities attending Chelsea's gala opening to unveil new roses include actress Rosamund Pike and TV gardener Rachel de Thame and also expected to wander amongst the roses are Imelda Staunton, Michael Caine, Vivienne Westwood, Geri Halliwell and Piers Morgan.
Press day is very much about the royals though and organisers are anticipating the Queen and Prince Philip's arrival late this afternoon.
William and Kate, for the first time appearing as a couple at the event, will accompany the Queen to Chelsea for the first time along with Prince Harry, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and his daughters Beatrice and Eugenie.
The Princess Charlotte chrysanthemum is baby pink with green tips and has been produced by Dutch company Deliflor, the world's biggest breeder of the blooms.
Regal inspiration: A Chelsea Pensioner looks through the 'Behind Every Great Florist' design at RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which pays tribute to the Queen's image and was produced by the New Covent Garden Flower Market
No flowers for Kelly! Designer Kelly Hoppen eschewed the chance to dress in floral-inspired clothes, opting for leopard print instead. Meanwhile, Jenny Bond did get the memo and plumped for a pretty blue dress with vintage flower detail and a frilled hem
Striking: BBC news anchor Sophie Raworth reported on the annual horticultural extravaganza in an ankle-length coral sleeveless dress
While the show gardens will be vying for the top prize, it's another, more poignant floral expression that is grabbing the early headlines.
The 5,000 Poppies project, designed by Phillip Johnson, contains 300,000 hand-crocheted poppies and honours all servicemen and women who have fought across all wars in the last 100 years.
The design, laid out on the lawns, features a simple central geometric installation and is complemented by more than 25,000 actual stemmed poppies.
A new English shrub rose, Roald Dahl, marking 100 years since the author's birth, is being launched by his widow Felicity Dahl. And Dad's Army actor Ian Lavender, who played Private Pike, is, appropriately, having a lavender named after him.
The Roald Dahl rose from Wolverhampton's David Austin Roses is peach in a nod to the author's best-selling children's book James and the Giant Peach, published in 1961.
Felicity Dahl, 77, declared herself 'thrilled' as she inhaled the rose's tea scent, saying: 'I could eat it.'
She said her husband would have loved the tribute, saying: 'He was humble. I can hear him saying 'Don't be silly Liccy, of course they're not going to name a rose after me. And then 'Do you think they will?''
Hats off to another year: Some show-goers including Sue Holderness, left, and visitor Michael Conway, right, let their headwear do the talking
Poignant: Designer Phillip Johnson's breathtaking exhibit, the 5000 Poppies Project, offers a more solemn take on the traditional creativity
A sea of red: The Chelsea pensioners pose in front of one of the event's most talked about gardens, the 5000 Poppies Project, which contains 300,000 hand-crocheted poppies and honours all servicemen and women who have fought across all wars in the last 100 years
A pensioner raises a hand to wave while dressed in the trademark red uniform: the poppy garden covers nearly 2,000sq m (21,000sq ft)
David Austin Jnr said: 'To name an English rose for one of the most eminent literary figures of our time is a great privilege. This, combined with Roald Dahl's love of gardening, makes a perfect fit'.
Downderry Nursery in Tonbridge, Kent, is celebrating its 25th anniversary by launching a lavender named after Ian Lavender.
Owner Simon Charlesworth said: 'We are applying for the trade mark 'Ian Lavender'. There could not be a celebrity with a more appropriate name for us.'
Barnardo's ambassador Rosamund Pike is launching the apricot and pink 'Sweet Syrie' rose, also from Harkness, at the show to mark the charity's 150th anniversary.
It is named after charity pioneer Dr Thomas Barnardo's little known wife Sara Louise Elmslie, nicknamed Syrie, who rescued 8,000 girls from a life of begging and prostitution in the Victorian East End.
Pike said: 'This new rose is fragile, hopeful and looking for an enduring place in the world, much like many of the children Barnardo's helps. I wish the Harkness 'Sweet Syrie' rose the best possible start in life.
'For 150 years, Barnardo's has been there to support the UK's most vulnerable children and help them thrive.
'Sara 'Syrie' Barnardo played a vital role in making sure its work reached girls as well as boys.'
Barnardo's chief executive Javed Khan said: 'Syrie and Thomas' philanthropic work sowed seeds that grew into the charity Barnardo's is today.
'This beautiful, strong rose is a fitting tribute to her tireless work, helping children off the streets of London to a sweeter future.'
TV gardener Rachel de Thame will present the first blooms of a new 'Sandringham' rose to Sandringham head gardener Martin Woods.
Scaling new heights: An athletic-looking figure stands atop a rock in one of the garden's exhibits
A nod to Rio? This exhibit features a botanically inspired Usain Bolt performing his trademark pose
Monty Don, who will once again take the presenting helm for the BBC this year, looked happy and relaxed ahead of a very busy four days
A very regal bloom: Chelsea West London PC Hayley Gower, from Fulham, with The Princess Charlotte Chrysanthemum
Geometrics feature heavily in this very modern garden where greenery takes centre stage
The deep pink rose was chosen by the Duchess of Cornwall when she was given a choice of three new seedlings by Peter Beales Roses in Norfolk at the 2014 Sandringham Flower Show.
The intensely perfumed rose was later given the name Sandringham after the Queen's country retreat in Norfolk.
The Queen is set to see three stunning floral tributes at the show celebrating her 90th birthday year. The RHS has created a 21ft floral arch of 10,000 pastel blooms. New Covent Garden Flower Market presents a spectacular three metre high portrait in the shape of the Queen's head featuring 10,000 colourful flowers.
And the Queen will also admire an 'immersive tunnel' featuring over 5,000 fresh rose blooms.
A bright orange umbrella-inspired sculpture has already caught plenty of show-goers' attention
A fine crop...but not so easy on the eye! This potato display shows the different crop varieties of the humble spud
- WARNING: Naked man suicide attempt in lion enclosure
- Tutor caught on camera having sex with student in classroom
- When it was new: Eco house on Grand Designs back in 2010
- The moment Karen Harding missed her national anthem cue
- Latest ISIS execution video shows man's head crushed by rock
- Women start vicious fist fight on a Birmingham high street
- Man defecates in nightclub and gets kicked out by bouncer
- Baby does Running Man Challenge and nails it in cute video
- Woman suffers burns after Hot Air Balloon catches on fire
- Disgraceful scenes at Hampden Park after Scottish Cup final
- Cat or dog or something else? Strange creature plays under...
- Demi Rose leaves little to the imagination in lacy black...
- Grand Decay: Inside the awe-inspiring' Lake District...
- 'Suicide by LION': Man strips naked and jumps into a Chilean...
- Pilot of doomed MS804 jet spoke with Egyptian air traffic...
- Now for the afterparty: Manchester United players arrive at...
- Sharon Osbourne slammed after branding the parents of...
- Rail commuter, 25, ‘slapped and racially abused a security...
- First picture of mother killed in front of her four-year-old...
- 'I should have been a coward': Mother who confronted Lee...
- First horrific pictures of Calvin Harris' mangled car wreck...
- Why we MUST quit the EU, by Cameron's guru: Friend and...
- Great-grandmother, 71, is told she cannot marry 21-year-old...
- The truth about Andrew's £15m house sale: As furore grows...
What's your view?
Be the first to comment...