My Garden

I'm Bob Sweet, and this is my first blog. As Head of Shows Development at the RHS, it's my job to make sure my team fills the RHS shows with fabulous gardens and nurseries. It can be a tough job at times, with many long days walking round fields, but when the shows are open and the visitors are... Read more..

Myself and one or two colleagues were mooching around the Royal Hospital recently admiring the smart, new black tarmac just laid around the Ranelagh Gardens, until we were struck by the challenge of retaining the smart, new look until the show opens on 19 May. Suffice to say, the new black paint is already... Read more..

Myself and one or two colleagues were mooching around the Royal Hospital recently admiring the smart, new black tarmac just laid around the Ranelagh Gardens, until we were struck by the challenge of retaining the smart, new look until the show opens on 19 May. Suffice to say, the new black paint is already... Read more..

The Council, who own the toilet blocks in Western Avenue, have been in touch and have told us that this year they’re giving the loos a facelift. By the time the show comes round, they’ll be freshly painted and looking fabulous! I would have thought that even the toilet block itself will be pleased, as... Read more..

I was speaking to a keen-to-be-Chelsea exhibitor the other day, and they were asking me if they’d be able to sell clothes at the show. Historically, and as a matter of policy, we’ve never allowed the sale of clothes at Chelsea before. At Hampton and Tatton the Country Living marquees are filled with... Read more..

The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is looking for a home for the Olympic basketball building. The moveable structure which can be used as a temporary building for other uses has a certain amount of appeal to replace the Chelsea structure when it comes to the end of its contract in May 2012. The current... Read more..

The weather has been very kind to us on site so far, and for once the Great Pavilion has gone up in dry conditions. We’re all hoping that the grass within the Great Pavilion will remain lush for the whole period of the show, and hopefully we’ll manage to avoid the dust problems that we have experienced... Read more..

It’s really good news that Wesley Kerr, Jane Owen and James Alexander Sinclair will be hosting the Gardening Matters talks theatre this year. All, of course, have been seen in front of the BBC camera at sometime or another in connection with the show and their presence on the flat screens in the talks... Read more..

Visitors to this year’s Hampton Court Show are going to be afforded the delight of receiving a complimentary Daily Telegraph. Now we are used to having newspapers at Hampton Court Show but the weekend version of the Daily Telegraph causes us some logistical problems. The paper has all those glorious... Read more..