Where Do The Plants From The Chelsea Flower Show Go?

This is not a question that has troubled me for years, I must admit. But it is a good one - when you think about it, surely all those thousands and thousands of plants can’t just go in a skip?I stumbled upon the answer over on the excellent 91 Magazine blog. On a jetty in North Greenwich, an initiative called Farmopolis takes in all the abandoned plants and gives them a new life in and around the restaurant and workshops that take place in a big polytunnel as they wait to be adopted into new homes. As soon as I found this out, I had to go. Like immediately.And so this weekend I took along my florist friend for lunch, a workshop and to explore the plants.Most importantly, the lunch. Well it was lovely. Farmopolis grow veggies on site and have a farm to fork philosophy which is so Simple & Season. A small and well executed menu is divied up into Soil, Land and Sea (vegetables, meat and fish) with two dishes in each category. This easily lends itself to a convenient tapas situation, and we shared the crispy chicken with coleslaw, smoked aubergine and popped rice and heritage vegetables with olive crumb and lemon dip. Plus bread, obvs.We sat outside on the jetty where a borderline-bracing wind off the river was very welcome in these ridiculously humid days we’re having. We were flanked by the Emirates Air Line on one side and the Thames Barrier on the other, and toddlers staggered between the tables in search of face paints and ice cream.Probably my favourite thing about Farmopolis is the atmosphere. It is so chill. We ambled around, glasses of prosecco in hand, and no one seemed worried. The staff were there when we needed them, but otherwise dissolved into the background - no one was worried about us paying the bill or leaving our table. Given that everyone else there lounged about on benches I think the homely feeling wasn’t just mine.      Down at one end of the greenhouse is the ‘Home For Wayward Plants’. Here you apply to adopt one of the ex-Chelsea plants by filling out a form and wait to hear of your successful at the end of the month. A bit cutesy perhaps, and definitely impractical for out of town-ers like me. However it’s nice to see plants treated like living things rather than the commodities they are at garden centres - the adoption process makes you actually think about whether your capable of keeping this thing alive.The one fail of the day was the workshop. We rushed to finish our lunch before the 2pm start of the Herbal Apothecary workshop where we were going to learn all about the medicinal qualities of plants and make a lovely herbal dream pillow. However, as we headed back inside we saw that the other attendees were all eager under fives with painted faces. Yup, it was a kid’s thing. Whoops. Farmopolis is at The Jetty with workshops running until the end of October (for kids, and adults!).