Stars show off their gnomes as Chelsea Flower Show gets under way

Stars have been showing off the gnomes they have decorated for charity as celebrities and royals get a sneak preview of this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.

The annual Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) event at the Royal Hospital Chelsea this year features show gardens containing everything from a Barbara Hepworth sculpture to a huge wooden carving of a Mother Nature figure from a fallen mature tree among the array of flowers and trees.

And – with the RHS lifting its Chelsea gnome ban for only the second time in the show’s history – visitors to the event can spot one or two of the cheery ornaments in displays such as the RHS and King’s Foundation Curious Garden, which aims to get people curious about gardening.

Alan Titchmarsh, Frances Tophill and Tom Allen holding the gnomes they have painted to raise money for the RHS Campaign for School Gardening (Aaron Chown/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Aaron Chown

Queen guitarist Sir Brian May, comedian Bill Bailey, TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh and presenter Dame Floella Benjamin were among those who were showing off their gnomes – which are being auctioned for the RHS’s Campaign for School Gardening to help children access gardening.

Bailey said gnomes have been “much maligned”.

“The Romans had them as guardians of the dark, and to protect against malign spirits,” he said.

Asked if it took him a long time to decorate his gnome, comedian Tom Allen said: “Oh, ages.”

Tom Allen gave his gnome a suit and tie (Aaron Chown/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Aaron Chown

“Mine’s got a suit and tie on, which I don’t think they normally wear. He doesn’t have any eyes. So, it’s about a dozing thing.”

Titchmarsh, who was wearing a blue suit, said: “I did mine to match me.”

Asked if Chelsea had taken itself too seriously with its themes in recent years, Titchmarsh said: “It doesn’t take itself seriously.

“It takes gardening seriously, which more people should do – seriously, in that it’s important, but it’s all about fun and improving everybody’s wellbeing, being out in the garden, you feel better.”

Alan Titchmarsh said gardening is ‘all about fun and improving everybody’s wellbeing’ (Aaron Chown/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Aaron Chown

Titchmarsh said “misery” would be the one thing he banned from the Chelsea Flower Show, while Allen said: “I’d be inclined to ban leaf blowers.”

Clare Matterson, director general of the RHS, said she was thrilled with the King’s Foundation Curious Garden, a centrepiece at Chelsea that aims to encourage people to get curious about gardening and which has been designed with input from the King, Sir David Beckham and Titchmarsh.

Speaking about the gnome auction, Ms Matterson said: “Every penny will go to support the RHS Campaign for School Gardening so we can get children up and down this country enjoying the benefits, the joy, the health, the learning of gardening.”

Sir Brian May holding his ‘Billy Bad-Axe’ gnome (Aaron Chown/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Aaron Chown

Sir Brian’s gnome, “Billy Bad-Axe”, which comes complete with a guitar, had already earned a bid of £650 by Monday morning, with the auction running until Sunday May 24.

This year’s Chelsea show features gardens including one championing “edgelands” on urban fringes that connect people with nature, from the Campaign to Protect Rural England and designed by Sarah Eberle.

The garden centres on a huge piece of art, a Gaia – Mother Nature – figure, lying across the garden, carved from a fallen mature tree and willow hair forming the top of a dry stone wall snaking through the display of native and naturalised plants and flowers.

Also among the show gardens is one from Tate Britain, inspired by the gallery’s art – and complete with a Barbara Hepworth sculpture – and which will be moved to Tate Britain’s Millbank site after Chelsea.

Grayson Perry with children from a local primary school during an art activity at the Tate Britain Garden (Aaron Chown/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Aaron Chown

The Parkinson’s UK garden features a wide accessible path leading through brightly coloured planting, with peonies, irises and tulips, and a “hand rill” that functions as both a water feature and handrail.

The Killik and Co A Seed In Time garden designed by Baz Grainger celebrates traditional crafts from Britain’s natural wetland heritage and the need to respond to climate change, while a display for Asthma and Lung UK is a woodland-edge garden designed as a restorative “breathing space” for people living with lung conditions.

Celebrities getting a first look at the show on Monday include TV presenters Nick Knowles and Piers Morgan, Downton Abbey star Jim Carter and artist Grayson Perry, before royals tour the event, which opens its doors more widely from Tuesday.