A Chelsea Flower Show alternative: the fun-filled Chelsea Fringe festival is in its fifth year

As an extended and alternative show to the Chelsea Flower Show, the anarchic, fun and flower-filled Chelsea Fringe, now in its fifth year, runs from Saturday May 21 to Sunday June 12, with events all around London.

Installation artists Heywood & Condie will show a greenhouse of antique stained glass in the forecourt of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, river craft decorated with floral displays will be moored at Henley-on-Thames with live music, the New Covent Garden Flower Market will offer free behind-the-scenes tours, and papermaking as well as dyeing workshops will use plants and materials from nature to make paper and beautiful coloured textiles.

There will also be wild flower and weed identification walks in different locations through the city, talks on the link between perfume and gardens by expert ‘Odette Toilette’ in Spitalfields, night-time bat detecting at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park and blooming bees workshops at Chiswick House.

For a pictorial event guide of what’s happening where and when, including full event listings that are being constantly updated, see www.chelseafringe.com