Chelsea's small guys.(Chelsea Flower Show, England)(Brief Article)

Publication: Spectator

Publication Date: 19-MAY-01

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COPYRIGHT 2001 The Spectator Ltd. (UK)

Chelsea Flower Show is not completely and utterly unlike a General Election campaign. (No, I mean it.) In at least two significant respects, the events are quite similar. The frenetic build-up lasts about four weeks in both cases, though there will have been months, even years, of planning, and they both feature a few, flashy big guys, with money to spend, and support from `B' list celebrities, who get most of the media attention, whilst much of the donkey work is done by a small army of almost anonymous people, quite a number of whom are volunteers.

The big guys are those sponsors, garden designers and contractors who construct the large outdoor `show gardens', together with the mega-nurseries, like Hilliers, Notcutts...

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