At London's annual Chelsea Flower Show, the flora is fit for a queen: shaped in her likeness and crafted in honor of her 90th birthday. The new princess has her own chrysanthemum too.
But this year's event, which opens Tuesday, kicks off with a warning from the Royal Horticultural Society: Britain has a "lost generation of gardeners."
Many people in their mid-20s to 40s never learned how to garden, "and we lost a lot of the skills," RHS Director-General Sue Biggs tells London'sTimes. The AFP news agency adds:
"Fewer than one percent of parents were taught gardening at school, compared with 55 percent of grandparents and 40 percent of children, according to a survey conducted by the RHS in 2011."
Against this backdrop, the Royal Horticultural Society continues to pursue its more than 200-year-old mission to "enrich everyone's life through plants."
As part of its campaign to beautify Britain, a featured exhibit gives visitors tips for their own gardening adventures.
"Gardens and gardening do more good to heart and soul than they are ever given credit for," designer Ann-Marie Powell told the RHS.
The 100-plus exhibits in this year's show range from whimsical to traditional — and they don't fit neatly into pots.
A sea of knitted and crocheted poppies covers the Royal Hospital grounds, much like a 2014 installation of ceramic poppies at the Tower of London, honoring soldiers who died in World War I.
The exhibit includes more than 300,000 flowers made by some 50,000 people, according to the U.K.'s Express. The display began three years ago as a small-scale project in Melbourne, and eventually blossomed into the London show.
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