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Chelsea Flower Show digital photo exhibition launched

RHS Lindley Collections A sketch of the 1827 fete showing women in long dresses, bonnets and shawls over their shoulders and men in suits and top hats. To the left are a number of marquees and in the background there is what looks like a glasshouse. There are also two trees on the left behind the crowds and one on the right, in front of the glasshouse.RHS Lindley Collections
RHS Lindley Collections a photo of some topiary in different shapes set out in a circle. The topiary bushes are shaped into birds, circular mounds, vertical spirals and there is a wheelbarrow one in the middle. They are positioned on top of what looks like sawn off tree trunks.RHS Lindley Collections
The RHS's first major event was the Chiswick Flower Show, originating from an 1827 fete.
The Great Spring Show, another incarnation of the flagship event, moved to the Inner Temple Gardens on London's Embankment for a time.

A digital photo exhibition examining the history of the Chelsea Flower Show (CFS) has been launched.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) archive material looks back at the event from its humble beginnings as a meeting about a potato, then a fete in Chiswick that went on to become one of the biggest gardening events in the world.

It details the show's various incarnations over the past two centuries, how it was set up and how the flagship event was promoted in the analogue era.

The 2025 show saw tens of thousands of people attend over the five day event - including the King and Queen.

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