The road to Chelsea: Communities in Bloom
Welcome to our Co-op ‘Communities in Bloom’ 2021 Chelsea Flower Show exhibit.
The road to Chelsea is never easy but our 7th exhibit was particularly protracted: a global pandemic and several lockdowns, cancellations and delays to the Chelsea Flower Show. We started working with the Co-op in the summer of 2019 but the exhibit was not finally on show until September 2021.
Most people don’t realise the amount of thought, planning and effort, from so many different people, that goes into achieving the final display and this is a record of the journey.
Design Development: Our original sketch layout for the Co-op in Aug 2019.
The final design changed the themes to reflect the issues brought up by the pandemic.
The Co-op were new to exhibiting at Chelsea but took on board the challenges with enthusiasm. Our relationship with the Co-op team, their suppliers, growers and the floristry teams was highly collaborative throughout, despite the delays, a global pandemic and changes of staff and to the exhibit.
It was a pleasure working together and we all felt the exhibit reflected a message of hope for the future and commitment to local communities.
The final exhibit is created through a combination of pre-building and refining the physical structure with careful sourcing and selection of flowers.
Mock-ups enable refinements to the floristry and messaging, together with feedback from stakeholders, before arriving at an exhibit that is ready for Chelsea. A huge amount of planning and paperwork, schedules and timetables lies behind this to make sure we get things right on the day.
February – March 2020: PRE-BUILD & PRE-PANDEMIC!
Building the structure in early 2020
Climbing frame, railings & pavement 
Hopscotch pavement 
Colour pencil fence 
Climbing frame & mound
March 2020: 1st MOCK UP before 1st LOCK DOWN
Mock-ups are vitally important to try out ideas with plants and flowers; to let the florists show their skills and explore what works in reality.
Our 2020 pre-build at The Palm Centre in Ham ended shortly after our first mock-up when the pandemic meant Chelsea was cancelled; we, and the rest of the country, were in lockdown.
Central display & rainbow mound 
Rainbow mound & flowery grass 
Floral hopscotch 
Everything was put into storage and put on hold until we had the go ahead to restart for Chelsea Spring 2021 ….no wait….. September 2021
Many meetings were held remotely and much discussed, but nothing happened in real life until July 2021.
July 2021: MINI MOCK UPS
Lockdown restrictions were partially lifted in early July 2021. We travelled to Lincolnshire to carry out a number of mini mock-ups with the floristry teams; to explore the changes that had been made and to re-engage with the process and the people involved.
A first attempt at the skateboard ramp- not bad! 
Trial of central display & floral mound in a cold store! 
First trial of flowery grass & green wall Alstroemeria 
First go at the allotment- leaves a lot to the imagination!
July – August 2021: Back to the Palm Centre
We got the exhibit out of storage at the end of July and restarted at The Palm Centre. We needed to prepare for the second mock-up and make some revisions to the structure because of the changes to the theme.
The sandpit changes into a picnic table 
The structure for the skateboard ramp to be decorated with flowers 
A basketball hoop suitable for flowers!
August 2021: FINAL MOCK UP
The second mock up gave us a chance to see the flowers and plants in situ: to check how they look together and to work out the all-important numbers.
Many changes to the flower choices were required due to the change of season. Our May exhibit would have featured tulips, alliums, stocks and peonies. A September exhibit focussed on delphiniums, hydrangeas, gladioli, sunflowers and snapdragons amongst many others!
We monitored the displays afterwards to see how long we could expect the cut flowers to last.
Contemplation bench 
Slide and rainbow mound 
Skateboard ramp 
Allotment and flowery grass
September 2021: BUILD UP
The Royal Hospital
Build up starts in the Great Pavilion on a Tuesday with everything ready for judging 6 days later. Early starts, careful planning, attention to detail and late finishes.
3 days to put the structure together and 3 days working with the florists.
It begins with an empty site 
Structure emerging from the ground 
PUTTING THE FLOWERS IN
An intense 3 days making the floral displays, hard work for all and many helping hands needed.
Making the buckets of flowery grass
Midnight Sunday: FINISHED AT LAST!!
A late finish on Sunday night at midnight: too dark to check everything is clean and tidy!
Sallis Chandler team tired and happy it is all done! Legends!
SHOW WEEK
Chelsea came and went with its’ usual drama and excitement. Great feedback from judges and visitors… and a Gold Medal made it all worth while!
Community pavement 
Allotment & Flowery grass 
Central climbing frame and slide 
Picnic 
Contemplation bench
REFRESHING
With careful use of biodegradable floral foam, capillary matting and a hidden water supply, the flowers and plants lasted throughout the 7 days with only the need for minimal refreshing of a few faded blooms.
After the show closes for the evening 
is the time for a bit of refreshing 
Gemma on an early morning refresh 
SELL OFF
Final day sell off at 4pm is a great Chelsea tradition! We sold the flowers for charity and were left with very little as you can see!
BREAKDOWN & DISPOSAL
After the Sunday sell-off the show closes to the public, but we stayed on to dismantle the exhibit. We recycled most of the unwanted timbers, recycled the green waste and returned artefacts and furniture from the exhibit.
All the potted plants were gifted to two horticultural charities: Roots & Shoots and the Fircroft Trust. The climbing frame and slide, pencil fence, picnic table and bench are all heading to Co-op Academy Schools.
Pleased to see so much go to good homes.
Just like that it is all over and returned to bare soil. 
Thank you guys! 
Play equipment, table and bench all packed up ready to travel to a new home 
Plants going to a good home
With grateful thanks to everyone who worked on the exhibit: too many people to mention by name.
It really is a collaborative effort!
Co-op working with their flower suppliers
Flamingo Flowers, MM Flowers, JZ Flowers:
The florists and growers who provided the wonderful flowers and floral displays.
Follow the link to see more photos of the completed exhibit:
Chelsea 2021 Communities in Bloom
