Chelsea coming up roses for centenary show

A party of royal guests headed by the Queen will be given a sneak preview of the Chelsea Flower Show today, ahead of its public opening tomorrow.

Celebrities are also invited to see the results of months of hard work from gardening experts, showcasing their designs in the week-long extravaganza.

To mark the centenary, many gardens draw inspiration from shows of yesteryear – with others looking firmly to the future, including one that reacts to messages sent on Twitter.

The landmark year has also led to a favourite of many a garden, the ornamental gnome, being given special dispensation – ordinarily, the Chelsea Flower Show has a strict ban on gnomes “and other brightly-coloured mythical creatures”.

Royals attending today will include the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke of York and Princess Beatrice.

Prince Harry will also be there to show his grandmother, patron of show organisers the Royal Horticultural Society, around a garden very close to his own heart.

The B&Q Sentebale Forget-me-not garden has been created by his charity, which is showing at Chelsea for the first time.

The show garden has been created by renowned landscape gardener Jinny Blom for Sentebale, which helps vulnerable children in Lesotho, but she said Harry had been “passionately” involved in the design process – even having preliminary drawings sent to him for approval while he was serving in Afghanistan.

Harry paid a surprise visit to the garden during its construction last week, telling Ms Blom he was delighted with the progress.

He did, however, appear concerned that a display of dazzling red poppies may not be in bloom in time for the show’s opening, having suffered from a lack of sunlight during the gloomy spring.

More than 500 exhibitors have spent the weekend putting the finishing touches to the 15 show gardens, 19 smaller gardens and 150 exhibits that make up the 2013 show, which runs until Saturday.

Some 165,000 visitors will see the sold-out show in the grounds of the Chelsea Royal Hospital.