The nation is in love with gardening, says the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), as tickets to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show sell out earlier than ever, on 5 May 2011, 18 days before the show opens to RHS members on Tuesday 24 May.
“Gardening is so in tune with what’s important to people at the moment” says Sue Biggs, who is the director general of the RHS, “We’re breaking visitor records at our gardens, 19,000 new members joined the RHS in the last three months and more people visited our show at Cardiff in April since it started in 2005.
“And it’s not just the beautiful weather that’s getting people outside - research by the Horticultural Trades Association in March showed over a quarter of people with a garden want to spend more time gardening. Interest in horticulture is also being reflected by media with ITV committing to more gardening coverage in 2011 as well as BBC’s excellent coverage.
“Gardening has always been popular in this country, but I believe this increased interest can largely be attributed to a desire to get back to the simpler pleasures in life and also to benefit from the huge trend to grow your own food, which has been a great boost to reach new audiences and people of all ages.
"Gardening is the perfect way to indulge yourself without any guilt and it’s good for both you and the environment – what more could you ask for? So in these tough times, it’s clear to see that the more people we can lead into this great pastime the better.”
Tickets to the world’s greatest flower show, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, have sold out the fastest since visitor numbers were capped at 157,000 in 1988. Demand for tickets are also strong for the world’s largest annual gardening event, the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in Surrey (5 -10 July 2011) and the RHS show at Tatton Park, Cheshire (20 - 24 July 2011).
One last word of advice from Sue, “RHS Chelsea tickets have now sold out, so can I please ask people NOT to spend extortionate money via ticket touts on tickets that may not be authentic and risk being refused entry to the show?
"The best thing to do is visit our other events at Malvern, Hampton and Tatton for gardening inspiration, advice and ideas. Also, everyone can tune into the 12 hours fabulous coverage of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show on the BBC.”
To buy tickets to RHS Shows at Malvern, Hampton and Tatton visit www.rhs.org.uk
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