Sketch is in Mayfair rather than Chelsea, but that's not stopping it joining in the celebrations – this year, it's holding its own Mayfair Flower Show, with five exhibitors setting up bloom-filled installations from 17 to 29 May. The blossom theme will spill over into the two Michelin-starred Lecture Room & Library, where Pierre Gagnaire has created a floral-inspired lunch menu complemented by a champagne tasting with Champagne Pommery. There'll be a special afternoon tea, too, curated by Sketch's bar manager, who's also known as The Dame of Roses – fitting, as it'll be held in the Pommery Lounge, which will be transformed into an enchanted forest for the occasion.
Flowers and afternoon tea go hand in hand – and never more so than when they're paired together in an event at one of London's most iconic institutions. The Dorchester's head pastry chef David Girard and designer florist Philip Hammond have worked together to create a menu of floral-inspired delights that each tell a story, from The Dorchester and the Giant Peach – a peach mousse with peach and verbena on a rice crispy biscuit to mark the 100th anniversary of Roald Dahl's birth – to Premise of a Gardener, a flower pot filled with lime, white chocolate, fresh strawberries and a spring of mint sprouting out of chocolate crumble, which symbolises the growth of new plants. There'll also be The Dorchester's infamous finger sandwiches, scones and homemade preserves, too.
Michelin House's striking Art Deco surrounds are set to be given a floral makeover for the Flower Show thanks to the handiwork of Chelsea award-winning designer Jack Dunckley and Chelsea exhibitors A Place in the Garden. Their aim is to build a calming space to encourage guests to dine al fresco in Bibendum's courtyard – which is also, conveniently, the oyster bar– using plants in deep greens, soft greys and with bold splashes of colour.
If you're green-thumbed,you're in for a treat at Tom's Kitchen Chelsea, where London florist Lavender Green Flowers will be creating a striking installation to transform the restaurant into a bloom-filled paradise. Hops will be draped around the pillars, there'll be rustic containers of flowers and greenery dotted around the place, and each table will be decorated with pots of edible herbs that will feature on the accompanying menu whipped up by Tom Aikens and his team, running 23-29 May. Expect marinated Loch Duart salmon with grapefruit and nasturtium; poached chicken lemon risotto with lemon basil and marigold; and sweetened ricotta with elderflower and rose-poached rhubarb.
There's a whole host of floral activity going on at Harrods this month, from a floral afternoon tea to gardening talks. Tuck into lavender and peach macaroons, jasmine and orange chocolate mousse and hibiscus and strawberry jellies in the scenic setting of The Conservatory at The Georgian, which will be decorated like a quintessential English garden – if you can't make it down there, you'll be able to buy the sweet treats in Harrods' Food Hall – or take a stroll through the British Eccentrics Garden, which has been styled in homage to cartoonist and illustrator William Heath Robinson. If you're in need of gardening tips, chat to author and designer Diarmuid Gavin about his new gardening service, or listen to talks by acclaimed gardeners Helen Dillon and Mark Gregory.
