Chelsea Secrets by Pip Bensley

We are so fortunate to have Pip come to talk at our June meeting. She has won 3 Gold Awards at Chelsea, so a very talented lady.

Pip will give us a special sneak look to see what goes on behind the scenes at The Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show. She has been part of 25 Hillier Nurseries’ Gold Medal winning gardens, helped build Show Gardens, Trade Stands, RHS “Special Features” and competed in the Floral Art competition winning three gold medals herself plus she is now a senior RHS judge chairing a judging panel at Chelsea.

Pip has always had flowers in her life from her Grandfather teaching her to care for flowers to forging a career in horticulture. She has worked in many areas of gardening from being a landscape architect to garden centres. She then went to Hilliers where she started as a plant area assistant and finished as Plant Buyer for the group of centres and editor of the Hillier Gardening Club Magazine, she also wrote The Hillier Gardeners’ Guide to Climbers and Wall Plants.

Pip has many talents, she is also a Nation Speaker in NAFAS, A tutor at Learning with Experts, a regular expert on the BBC Radio Solent “Any Questions” and has spent 8 years with the Gardening Team “Dig IT”.