Royal Family Visits Flower Show

Press, Volume C, Issue 29523, 26 May 1961, Page 2

Royal Family Visits Flower Show

[By ZALIA THOMAS}

LONDON, May 19.

There can surely be no flower show in the world which attracts more attention than the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea flower show, held annually in the beautiful grounds of the Royal Chelsea Hospital, London.

This show is always a great favourite with the Royal family and on the private view day it was attended by’ the Queen, Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Mr Antony Armstrong-Jones and other members of the family. Mr Antony ArmstrongJones had a particular interest in this year’s show. His mother, the Countess of Rosse, was Showing hydrangeas from her garden in Handcross, Sussex—magnificent blooms 15 inches across.

Princess Margaret greeted her mother-in-law with a kiss and was then introduced by her husband, to the gardener chiefly responsible for the blooms.

Mr Armstrong-Jones was clearly delighted to see the old family retainer who had been with the family for 38 years.

It was the pink rose “Silver Lining” which caught the

Queen’s attention, as 125 plants of this variety were presented to Her Majesty last

autumn by the National Rose Society to mark the birth of Prince Andrew and have since been planted under her window at Buckingham Palace.

They are of course, not yet in bloom in the palace garden and the Queen told the grower, Mr Alex Dickson, of Belfast: “I just can’t wait to see them come out.” In the three acres and a half marquee which houses flowers, fruit and vegetables, it was the luscious strawberries which caught Prince Philip’s eye. Arranged in tiers and still hanging on their plants, they were a wonderful sight. The scent was too much for one man. Hurrying away I heard him say: “They’re making my mouth water so much I just can’t stand here any longer.” This year the show was held a week earlier than usual and enabled flowers to be shown which would normally have been past perfection a week later. Blooms ranged from delicate spring jonquils to hardy autumn chrysanthemums* and included wild flowers from Western Australia which had been sent over in solid cones of ice looking rather like floral dunces’ caps. From Japan came the famous Bonsai trees including a conifer more than 100 years old yet scarcely two feet high. Elsewhere in the show were cut flowers from all parts of the world flown over by 8.0.A.C. in a matter of hours.

Landscapes Outside in the grounds magnificent landscape gardens and rockeries with cascading water looked as if they had been there for years and it was sad to think that at the end of the show they would be dismantled. Roses, as usual, claimed the most attention and this year there were several newcomers to interest the enthusiast, including a new Dickson nose “Celebration” (a salmon peach) to mark their one hundred and twenty fifth anniversary, and “Paddy McGredy,” a rosy red floribunda.

It is to protect rose growers that a Government committee has recommended the copyrighting of roses. A new rose can take anything up to 10 years to perfect at an average cost of £5OOO yet once it is put on the market it can be bought by anyone for 10s fid, propagated and sold in its thousands without the originator receiving a penny. In other countries, including the United States, a patent can be taken out which lasts for 17 years.