Lynn Keddie

  • Home
  • News and events
  • Paintings
    • land and sea
    • abstract & flowers
    • Prints
  • Painting workshops
  • PHOTOGRAPHY
    • Published
    • Gardens
    • interiors >
      • Ruby Street
      • kensington W8
    • product
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy policy
  • Home
  • News and events
  • Paintings
    • land and sea
    • abstract & flowers
    • Prints
  • Painting workshops
  • PHOTOGRAPHY
    • Published
    • Gardens
    • interiors >
      • Ruby Street
      • kensington W8
    • product
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy policy

Made in Chelsea?

16/5/2012

 
Ok, so it's a couple of days till the biggest horticultural show on the planet kicks off, Chelsea Flower Show.  The exhibitors have been hard at it all year, but now they are all at the show ground frantically battling the elements to put together a show-stopping, jaw-dropping, rooting-tooting, all-singing-all-dancing horticultural extravaganza. Plants have been chilled or warmed to be in tip-top shape for the big day, gargantuan trees have been hauled from everywhere on fleets of flatbed lorries, a caravan named Doris has been polished and preened and gently placed on site, paths have been laid, walls built, hey even buildings constructed in this relatively small field in the centre of SW1.

My first visit was in the early 90's a the Publisher of Elle Decoration, back then I was bowled over by the extravant and what I thought at the time, somewhat false nature of the show.  In the last 10 years, I have worked there as a photographer arriving on press day in anticipation of the judges arrival and watched as last minute nervous tweeks were made.

Each time I go I ask myself the same questions: is it gardening gone mad or, the greatest horticultural show on the planet?  Is it all worthwhile or just a waste of money in our cash-strapped, food scarce world? 

Last year, one of the gardening editors described her feelings about the event like this, 'It's a show, a piece of theatre, it wow's us with it's exhuberance, and excites us with surprises.'

I understand Chelsea, thanks to one of my favourite films, The Devil Wears Prada.  The best scene ever (on this planet)  is when Miranda Priestly explains the importance of a seemingly trivial choice of fashion items.

 
So this for me is Chelsea - it's not just 'stuff' - the flowers and plants, or who can build the show-stopping exhibits. No, it's taking design to the next level, challenging the boundaries, finding the plants that matter to our environment, creating beautiful 3-dimensional paintings with flowers, plants and landscaping.  Then, one day somewhere in Westbury,  West Bromich or Weston-Super-Mare someone will pick up a spade, dig a hole, plant something and change the way their world is for the better.


Comments are closed.
    Picture
    Lynn Keddie

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Friends And Family
    Gardening Advice
    Garden Photography
    Infographics
    Inspiration
    Motivation
    Painting
    Photography
    Photography Tips
    Recipies
    Social Media Marketing
    Twitter
    VISUAL SOCIAL MEDIA

    RSS Feed

    Creative Commons Licence
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

    Archives

    March 2018
    December 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    February 2014
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

All images ©Lynn Keddie not to be reproduced without permission
07792 148275
​Studio 10
The Silk Mill
Merchants Barton
Saxonvale
Frome
Somerset BA11 1PT