Putting on a show with the first Emirati garden designer at Chelsea

It may be a very British institution, as much a part of the social season as Royal Ascot and the Henley Regatta, but to its many devotees, the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show, or “Chelsea” as it’s more popularly known, is the highlight of the horticultural year.

For five days each May, the British passion for gardening and the show’s prestigious, central London location draws an eclectic, 160,000-strong crowd. The public, royalty, celebrities, the media and big beasts from the worlds of politics and business rub shoulders in the normally sedate grounds of Sir Christopher Wren’s Royal Hospital to watch an international cast of designers, nurserymen, landscapers and florists battle it out for that most coveted of horticultural awards, a Chelsea gold medal.

The show may be more than a century old, but next year’s event will include an important debut: it will be the first to feature a show garden designed by an Emirati. “I had goose bumps when I opened the [acceptance] letter,” says the Dubai-based garden designer Kamelia Bin Zaal. “It’s difficult to explain to people who don’t know, but Chelsea is like the Oscars for landscape design.

“It’s exciting, but it’s also quite intimidating because it’s so well established. This is Chelsea. It’s the Royal Horticultural Society and the people involved are my mentors. There’s a lot that goes with that.”

Called The Beauty of Islam, Bin Zaal’s design is a contemporary reinterpretation of an Islamic garden and has been accepted as one of the 15 main show gardens that will compete for Chelsea’s ultimate prize, the Best Show Garden award.

Original article by Nick Leech

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Putting on a show with the first Emirati garden designer at Chelsea