Olivia PowellThis year’s Chelsea Flower Show will be held virtually for the first time ever, due to the restrictions put in place because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This marks the first time the physical event has been cancelled since World War Two.
The show will be hosted from 18-23 May by BBC presenters from their own back gardens, with a different garden designer, florist or gardening personality displaying their own private gardens each day of the show.
Viewers will be able to remotely vote for the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) People’s choice garden of the decade, plant of the decade and product of the year..
Countryfile and Gardeners’ World have been able to continue during the lockdown by encouraging relatives to film before installing fixed-camera equipment in people’s home. Chelsea Flower Show plans to use the same techniques to take the show online.
Factual commissioner for Chelsea Flower Show, Catherine Catton, said: “We’re using the techniques we’ve learned on Gardeners’ World, so we’re doing families.
“They’re presenting from their gardens and we either split-screen or you alternate between them. It works really nicely.
“It’s fun and it’s nice being in their gardens and having a nose around.”
The show will also include a competition in which members of the public can submit pictures of their own gardens, along with an explanation of how gardening has helped them during the coronavirus.
Sue Biggs, RHS Director General, said: “Plants, gardening, and the natural world has never been so important to us.
“At the RHS we are acutely aware of the benefits that gardening and nurturing plants can have on our mental health and wellbeing.
“This competition is a great way to encourage people to garden and grow and also reward some tremendous efforts and amazing indoor and outdoor gardens across the UK.”