Chelsea in Bloom 2019: the prettiest shopfronts and floral displays in South West London

If you didn’t manage to secure a ticket for this year’s famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show, fear not.

For there’s still an opportunity to enjoy an array of spectacular – and entirely free – floral delights when you’re out shopping in Chelsea over the next few days.

The Chelsea in Bloom festival is a competition produced by Cadogan, in association with the Royal Horticultural Society, which sees retailers adorn their shops with floral displays which are then judged by an expert panel.

An impressive 80 shops, restaurants and hotels are participating in this year’s event, which spans Sloane Street, Pavilion Road, Duke of York Square, and for the first time ever, shopfronts on the King’s Road, to celebrate its 2019 re-launch.

Each of them has unleashed their creativity to interpret this year’s theme of Under the Sea, in a bid to win the award for ‘Best Floral Display’.

For anyone wanting to explore the installations, there are free rickshaw rides and walking tours of the area’s highlights which you can book from an information point in Sloane Square, where there’s also a pop-up bar. For the first time, Cadogan is working alongside charity partner Plastic Oceans UK, and has installed a donation point on Sloane Square, with an interactive installation to raise funds and awareness.

Also on Sloane Square is a central floral installation created by florists ‘All For Love London’ featuring a show-stopping coral reef complete with giant dolphin made from mixed foliage, and an octopus with tentacles of celosia heads and pincushion proteas.

There’s also a giant 4m-high floral installation of an Orca Whale on Pavilion Road, created out of tropical leaves, delphiniums, hydrangeas and frothy gypsophila. Meanwhile, on Duke of York Square, florists ‘Maison de Fleurs’ have created a giant turtle comprised of a mixture of plants, succulents, moss and brightly coloured flowers.

Rickshaws, pop-up bars and bountiful blooms? We smell a blogger bonanza…

Chelsea in Bloom runs from the May 20-25. Find out more about the show and how you can vote for your favourite installation here.