Chelsea Flower Show

Gardeners from the Midlands have picked up a host of awards at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London.

Rose breeder David Austin from Wolverhampton won the company's 14th gold medal.

Birmingham City Council's entry celebrating the new Library also won gold. Their garden told the story of local writers including JRR Tolkein.

Stoke on Trent's garden entry, celebrating its ceramics and pottery heritage, won a Silver award.

• The RHS Great Spring Show was first held in the now vanished RHS garden in Kensington in 1862.
• Between 1888 and 1911 it was held in the Temple Gardens. It moved to its current site at Chelsea Hospital in 1913.

• The Chelsea Flower Show has been held in the grounds of the Chelsea Hospital every year since 1913, apart from gaps during the two World Wars.
• Of the firms that exhibited at the first Show in 1913, only two are still showing: McBean’s Orchids, and Blackmore and Langdon.

• It is the flower show most associated with the Royal family.
• The Chelsea rules forbid the use of coloured sculptures. So garden gnomes have been forbidden throughout its history.

Gardeners from across the Midlands are getting ready for this year's Chelsea Flower Show as it celebrates its 100th anniversary.

The Queen will be taking a tour of the displays in London, before it opens to the public on Thursday.

For one year only, gnomes will be allowed to feature in gardens and gnomes painted by celebrities are going up for auction.