Visit to Chelsea in Bloom 2024

A visit to Chelsea in Bloom is worth taking some time to enjoy. I spent a couple of hours wandering the streets of surrounding Sloane Square, and although I saw plenty of floral displays, there are many more that I didn’t visit. A clearly marked out route to helps you visit all the floral displays and some had an information podium to better help you understand the installation. The theme for Chelsea in Bloom 2024 was Floral Feasts.

Chelsea in Bloom is an alternative floral art show based in the streets of Chelsea to coincide with RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Participating businesses create interesting, beautiful and striking displays made of fresh flowers, competing for awards. Cadogan produced the event, in association with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Here are some of the floral displays I found during my visit to Chelsea in Bloom 2024.

L.K. Bennett

With a theme that I interpreted as ‘tea at Royal Ascot’. This floral display invited passers by to pause at the table and have a photograph taken. The interactive displays certainly caught the attention of those on a visit to Chelsea in Bloom. And there was hardly a moment without someone sitting in the chair, posing for a photograph.

Vertical Veg

At 3.5 metres tall, this display depicting a stack of vegetables really made a statement!

Although I found it hard to work out what all the different vegetables were, the overall effect was very interesting.

A La Carte

Using a combination of fruits and flowers in baskets, cosmetics store a la carte displayed a traditional market stall cart on one side of the door way. And a second scene, with a small table and ladder on the other side.

Space NK

This store offered three separate, but linked installations depicting cosmetics and made using flowers. I liked the tube with green blossoms, although wasn’t sure how well it fitted with the them of floral feasts.

Trinny’s Pop-up Shop

I spotted Trinny Woodall inside this store on the opening day of her new pop-up shop. The entrance is on the King’s Road. The external woodwork was bright yellow. Hanging floral decorations of lemons added to the cheerful exterior.

Penhaligons

So often, the beauty of a thing is in the details and this display at Penhaligons did not disappoint. I’ve interpreted it as the age old question of how to serve a scone. Which do you prefer, jam with cream on top or cream followed by jam?

However you enjoy a cream tea, I particularly liked the moss covered teapots.

Massimo Dutti

A visit to Chelsea in Bloom website tells me that this is an ‘ode to the magic that is created when friends gather around a table’.

This display filled one entire window of Massimo Dutti. It certainly looked like a table laden with food for a feast.

Slowear

It was difficult to capture a good photograph of these delightful and subtle displays at Slowear. In the bright sunshine, the windows reflected the store on the opposite side of the road.

Some of the floral artworks on display at Chelsea in Bloom have interpreted the theme very directly, others

Essentiel Antwerp

Essentiel Antwerp used oranges and flowers to create this display.

Jessica McCormack

The loose, flowing design of this display was a contrast to many seen on my visit to Chelsea in Bloom. ‘Wind in the willows picnic feast’ used branches of corkscrew willow and silver birch trees, together with terracotta pots planted with creams, greens and blues.

This was the design that I voted as my favourite on the Chelsea in Bloom 2024 website. It was so very different to most of the displays that I had seen and felt as though an entire garden had been created at the front of the store. It also felt like a planting display that I would happily recreate in my own garden.

Cartier

The display outside Cartier was divided into two colour sections. One red and one yellow. The garlands framing the doors and the building were reflected in smaller arrangements in the shop display windows.

Each side was adorned with an abundance of flowers that looked like a twisted garden.

Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren’s display was a nostalgic reminiscence of tea rooms or coffee shop. As such, they included a coffee cart selling hot drinks.

Nu

Nu’s window displays were both outside and inside the storefront. The double fronted shop had two-tier staging, which looked very much like a cake, outside the windows with frothy flowers above each window display. But the part that I thought really clever was the displays around the dresses inside the shop window. Dried flowers suspended on copper and clear wires surrounded the mannequins giving added depth to the display from the street. When viewed from within the shop, this display was a visual treat.

The Conran Shop

Using clean lines and a muted palette, the display outside The Conran Shop had a calm feeling of understated elegance.

Azzurra

An ideal photo opportunity was created outside Azzurra. They partnered with Highgrove Gardens to create this display. A willow crown designed by willow maker, Emma Stothard, is surrounded by fruit colours of pinks, yellows and reds. As I watched, several people took a seat at the table to have their photograph taken.

Hackett

This was one of my favourite displays, using small blooms covering shapes to create a feast for the eyes. There was everything for a meal from sandwiches to a roast turkey, scones with jam and cream, and even a cheese board.

Hackett had also created a place for the public to sit and have their photo taken with a flowering, three tiered cake.

Moyses Stevens

This display of rocket ice lollies outside the Moyses Stevens shop has the lollies looking like they are about to take off, with a mixture of vibrant colours and interesting shapes below.

Savills

Understated elegance was the first thing that sprang to mind when I saw this display from Savills. It was certainly a cooling feast for the eyes on a bright, sunny day.

Other floral displays

There were many floral displays that I didn’t manage to see or photograph, whereas with others I didn’t see the labels. And therefore, I do not know which business was responsible for them.

If you make a visit to Chelsea in Bloom, you may also want to see Belgravia in Bloom, where the theme is Floral Fun and Games.

Sustainability on a visit to Chelsea in Bloom

As I wandered the streets looking at the floral displays, I thought about how sustainable this kind of project might be. According to Chelsea in Bloom website, many of the floral displays will be donated to Confetti Club. It is a not-for-profit organisation that repurposes used flowers to create biodegradable dried petal confetti. Cancer Research UK receives the donated profits from the Confetti Club project.

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Liz Zorab

Author of the bestselling 'Grounded – A Gardener's Journey to Abundance and Self-Sufficiency' and The Seasoned Gardener. On less than an acre, she grows most of the food and drink her family enjoy each year, giving them food security, resilience and increased self-reliance. She also manages a further four acres of gardens and meadows. Liz regularly writes for Amateur Gardening magazine and Permaculture Magazine, teaches gardening and self-sufficiency skills and encourages thousands of people to take up their trowels and live their dreams through a vibrant YouTube Channel, Liz Zorab – Byther Farm.