Tweet
This year's Chelsea Flower Show will provide a spectacular display despite designers having to deal with recent frosts, organisers have said.There had been concerns that flowers might be in short supply after Europe's coldest winter in more than 30 years.
Around 600 exhibitors will unveil their creations with a garden created by prison inmates vying for top honours.
More than 150,000 people are expected at the west London venue over the next five days for the sold-out event.
Community theme
This year's event was the fastest selling since 1988, with all tickets sold 11 days ahead of the opening.
The Royal Horticultural Society said some exhibitors have grown five times as many plants as usual to make sure they have enough.
A community theme has replaced last year's recession-busting measures for the gardens.
Designers have spent the weekend putting the finishing touches to the 15 show gardens, 21 small gardens and hundreds of exhibits.
Among them are a pair of giant seeping lock gates, a section of wrought-iron bridge and a swimming pool with submerged bar seats.
And £20m worth of precious stones will be used in an urban garden called Ace of Diamonds. The stones will be replaced with fakes for the public viewings which start on Tuesday.
Chelsea's largest-ever show garden, the Eden Project's Places of Change, was created by prisoners and homeless people with no gardening experience.
Paul Stone, designer and co-ordinator Places of Change, said: "This feels like a step into the unknown. Of the 10,000 plants, one-third have been grown by amateur individuals who have been excluded from society.
"At its heart is that horticulture is central to our lives and represents an opportunity for excluded people to gain life skills and contribute, that investment in people must be seen as a solution and not a cost."
The Hesco Leeds City Council garden, based on a section of the Leeds-Liverpool canal complete with lock, is intended to encourage an appreciation of public green space.This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.