Monday 18 May 2015

Chelsea Flower Show: Prince Harry visits charity garden




Prince Harry has visited this year's Chelsea Flower Show, ahead of a visit later by the Queen.

The prince revealed he has yet to meet Princess Charlotte as he toured a garden designed for his charity.
Horticulturalists from around the world are displaying their designs at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, London.
The launch of the show, which opens to the public on Tuesday, comes as its organisers say nearly a quarter of the UK's front gardens are now paved over.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is urging householders to buck the trend by growing more plants.

'Icing on cake'

Among the gardens being exhibited to special guests in Monday is one created for Sentebale, the charity co-founded by Prince Harry which helps children in Lesotho.
Visiting on Monday morning, the prince said the garden was "everything that I could have wished for".
He told BBC Breakfast parts of the garden were "exactly like Africa" and that he "can't wait" to show members of his family.
Designer Matt Keightley, who created a southern-African theme for the charity after designing a garden for Help the Heroes at last year's show, said: "It is such a privilege being part of the show.
"It was last year, and nothing has changed in that respect. I'm hoping the Queen will like it - that would be the icing on the cake."
Prince Harry
Prince Harry visited a garden created for the charity he co-founded
Visitor photographs garden
Guests are being shown around the site before it opens to the public on Tuesday
Exhibition at the Chelsea Flower Show
Horticulturalists have been working hard in the days leading up to the show's opening
Chelsea pensioners at Chelsea Flower Show
Chelsea pensioners were among those attending the special preview day
Some 165,000 people are expected to visit the show over five days and, for the first time, will be able to view the work of an amateur gardener.
Nurse Sean Murray, from Ashington, Northumberland, who won the BBC's Great Chelsea Garden Challenge, has designed a display for the main avenue at the show.
His front garden incorporates both plants and a parking space, to highlight the RHS's campaign, Greening Grey Britain.
It comes after a survey for the RHS showed that 24% of front gardens are now entirely paved, concreted or gravelled. More than a quarter, 28% of the 1,492 people polled, said there was no greenery at all in their front gardens.
Media captionWatch BBC Breakfast's full interview with Prince Harry
A display of roses at the Chelsea Flower Show
This display of roses is inside the show's Grand Pavilion
The Haven artisan garden at the Chelsea Flower Show
The Haven artisan garden being prepared to go on display
"The Beauty of Islam"
"The Beauty of Islam" show garden designed by Kamelia Bin Zaal
RHS principal horticultural adviser Leigh Hunt said: "All gardens are important - vegetation provides so many benefits, preventing flooding, providing homes for wildlife, keeping cities cool in summer, insulating homes in winter."
Joe Swift, BBC presenter of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, said: "We can all make our streets greener and better places to live and take action against this growing concrete jungle.
"We've made this conversion to grey one garden at a time and now, today, there are 7.24 million front gardens that are mostly paved.
"It's time to get gardening. We can all make a difference: from window boxes to tree planting, let's join the RHS and greening grey Britain."