Baroness Floella Benjamin shares some delights of her garden as the 2020 Chelsea Flower Show goes virtual.

By Baroness Floella Benjamin

I’m now a Vice President of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), something I know my beloved mother would have been so proud of.  I have been invited as a guest to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show for the last 30 years and I always  took my mother with me when she was alive. She was a natural gardener and she loved spectacular exhibits.

In 2018 I was excited to exhibit my ‘Windrush Garden’ at the show and I won a Gold Medal. Then last year I won another Gold for my ‘Floella’s Future Recycling Garden’. This year I had a ‘Renewable Energy’ garden planned, but because of COVID-19 The Chelsea Flower Show had to be cancelled and for the first time ever it is a virtual event.

So online I will be displaying the two rose bushes I planted to celebrate the birth of my children, who are now thirty-eight and thirty-one. I will also be showing some of the plants my mother, gave me as well as my pots of lavender and gorgeous smelling herbs which I use to cook with. This way I will not break the tradition of being part of The RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Baroness Benjamin’s Garden

 A wonderful array of some of the herbs and roses, including several varieties of wonderful thymes and lavenders in Baroness Benjamin’s garden.

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Photos: Courtesy Keith Taylor