If houseplants are helping you to get through lockdown, today brings some very good news. The world-famous Chelsea Flower Show has announced it's moving online for the first time after this year's event was cancelled due to coronavirus.
The five-day virtual flower show will feature a school gardening club for kids and expert demonstrations on how to grow, pot and maintain healthy plants.
Meanwhile, a host of leading horticulturalists will give virtual tours of their private gardens and replicate some of the lavish displays they were intending to build in Chelsea Flower Show's grand pavilion.
All content will be available for free on the The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) website from 19-23 May. The virtual flower show will begin each morning at 8am with a virtual garden tour – ideal inspo before a day of working from home – and include a lunchtime Q&A session with an RHS expert.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Content from this year's virtual flower show will also be shown on BBC One and BBC Two, which usually run a series of special programmes from the real-life flower show.
The Chelsea Flower Show has taken place at London's Royal Hospital Chelsea every year since 1913 except for a couple of breaks during World War One and World War Two.
Sue Biggs, director general of the RHS, said: "We’re lucky to live in a digital age where we’re able to bring aspects of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show online so we can continue to share the world’s best in horticulture and bring garden design inspiration, breath-taking displays and horticultural knowledge for the nation to enjoy during this difficult time."
She added: "We really hope the virtual show will help fill the gap caused by the sad but necessary cancellation of this year’s show and will inspire more people to get growing."
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT