By going to the Chelsea Flower Show, I learnt two things: that people from the Caribbean fly thousands of miles with their plants to exhibit them at the show. Secondly, that the Caribbean islands have won a combination of gold, silver and Bronze medals at this prestigious annual event.
 | | Louise Chandler |
Among the 600 stands at Chelsea, hailed as the world's greatest flower show, there are exhibitors including the Trinidad, Grenada, Jamaican and Barbados Horticultural Societies. All of the the organisations flew over weeks in advance to prepare the plants that are themed around their country. Most show gardens even include fruit and vegetables that are popular on their islands - like Ackees from Jamaica or Breadfruit from Trinidad. ___________________________________________ See photos of some of the displays here: ___________________________________________ All these groups work tirelessly to put together the displays of plants that have stayed fresh - despite flying for 10 hours on a plane! I spoke to Mona Walker from the Barbados Horticultural Society who has been coming to Chelsea for 20 years and she says she looks forward to seeing her 'Chelsea mates' every year. She adds: "Quite a bit of material comes from my own garden. You find people in Barbados who will cut stuff from their garden that they will not cut for anything else. I don't even think they'll cut it for their daughter's wedding, but they'll cut it for Chelsea." Mona is one of the key flower arrangers and she showed me cuttings she's taken out of her garden to display at Chelsea. Among the predominant flowers were an assortment of various sizes and colours of Anthuriums and Heliconias which stood out and showed just why the Barbados Horticultural Society was lucky enough to walk away with the Silver Flora award for The President's Award of UK Horticulture. If these flowers represent the Caribbean - then I'm booking my plane ticket so I can go and see more for myself! | 
