San Francisco Frontiers - Love, lust and gnomes as top UK flower show bursts into bloom

"We've never needed the joy of gardening, the power of plants for our planet or the peace of simply sitting in a garden, more," said Clare Matterson, director of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), in a statement.

Over five days from Tuesday more than 150,000 people are expected to visit the RHS's annual popular Chelsea Flower Show with 30 gardens competing for coveted awards.

Shaking up the normally genteel world of gardening, Aphrodite's Hothouse is described on the RHS website as "the ultimate pleasure garden... lush, fragrant and just a little bit naughty".

It's "a theatrical display" of lust and love, designer James Whiting told AFP.

With pendulous or heart-shaped flowers and suggestive, sculptural blooms, as well some discreet sex toys, the indoor garden has stirred some controversy.

Whiting dismissed it though, saying "people are excited to see something a bit fresh... and to see the RHS opening the doors to more modern topics".

"Flowers are all about sex. So why not bring that to the Chelsea Flower Show?" he asked, pointing to "a new wave of gardeners" exhibiting at the show.

- 'Hope, regeneration' -

Elsewhere, fallen trees have been carved into a giant sculpture of a sleeping Gaia, or Mother Nature in Greek mythology, emphasising the natural world's power to protect.

"The garden aims to bring to you the potential and the joy in the ordinary," said Sarah Eberle, designer of the Garden on the Edge from the Campaign for Protection of Rural England.

After the show, the whole garden including Gaia will be moved to be a communal park for a housing estate in northern Sheffield.

Also with an eye on sustainability, the Bring Me Sunshine garden has been designed to become part of the UK's second Eden Project, which is set to open in 2028 in northwestern Morecambe.

It is surrounded by a wall made from shell-based waste products -- clams, mussels and cockles, and limestone from the coast -- a recycled alternative to concrete.

The garden is filled with edible plants, such as samphire, making its first appearance at the show, sea kale, and sea buckthorn -- all plants from the Morecambe Bay coast.

An "important way to connect with nature is using food as that gateway", said one of the designers and keen forager, Harry Holding.

The original Eden Project has pumped £6.8 billion ($9.1 billion) into the local economy in the 25 years since a clay pit in southwestern Cornwall was transformed into stunning gardens.

It draws about a million visitors annually, and the aim is to bring the same benefits to the impoverished Morecambe, providing jobs and training to young people.

This is a story about "hope and regeneration", co-designer Alex Michaelis told AFP.

Further along is the Children's Society garden, a peaceful, informal space for teenagers.

"It's a garden of safety, it's a garden of calm, of protection," said designer Patrick Clarke, describing entering the denser part as moving "into the hug of the garden" allowing the "always-on generation" to reflect and slow down.

He has included smaller plants to show resilience, "little jewels, that just need that little bit of love, that little bit of care that we all need".

- 'Be curious' -

Set on the banks of the River Thames, the Royal Chelsea Hospital has hosted the show since 1913. So popular has it grown that tickets are all sold out.

This year, for only the second time in the show's 113-year history, gnomes -- those whimsical, some say kitschy, ornaments -- have been allowed back onto the showgrounds.

Celebrities including actor Cate Blanchett and guitarist Brian May have painted the cheeky characters to be auctioned off for charity.

King Charles III, expected to visit the show with Queen Camilla later Monday, also has a garden featured.

The RHS and The King's Foundation Curious Garden "celebrates the rich diversity of plants and their impact on our lives", the show's website says.

The king's favourite flower is said to be the majestic delphinium.

Designer and TV presenter Frances Tophill and her team tracked down what is thought to be the rarest delphinium in the world, the cornflower blue Delphinium elatum "Alice Artindale".

"In my experience, gardening is all about being curious," said footballing legend David Beckham, who co-created the king's garden, on the RHS website.

Z.Sanchez--SFF