Chelsea Flower Show Gardens Take Shape Ahead of Tuesday Opening

Construction at the Chelsea Flower Show site has run for 21 days to meet the Tuesday opening deadline. Designers, volunteers and contractors have worked around the clock on the Royal Hospital grounds, the largest active building site in London at present.

Entry requires steel-cap boots and high-visibility clothing. Workers carry Hori Hori knives and packets of antihistamines to manage the seasonal "Chelsea cough" caused by London plane trees.

Show gardens cost sponsors more than £450,000 each. One garden features a 250-square-metre section of a larger installation planned for Tate Britain, including a Barbara Hepworth sculpture and stone taken from the museum's pavement. Mark Fane, co-founder of plant nursery Crocus, is assisting designer Tom Stuart-Smith on the Tate Britain garden.

Stuart-Smith has won eight Chelsea gold medals and is using a Mediterranean-style, climate-resilient plant palette.

Volunteers use make-up brushes, lemon, vinegar, milk and mayonnaise to clean leaves. One trainee reported plans to polish leaves with baby wipes on Saturday. A volunteer has spent three days arranging red sand around plants on a two-square-metre area.

Hail last week and rising heat have threatened some displays. Benches made from lime and steelworks waste began to crack during construction and are being repaired on site. A large Melia azedarach tree in the centre of one garden has not yet flowered.

Teams continue sweeping, brushing moss and watering plants. An industrial sprinkler is used to settle dust on pathways. The show runs for five days after the Tuesday opening.