What garden features were banned from the Chelsea Flower Show until 2013?

It is a controversial and flagrant display of discrimination that has plagued one of Britain’s most august institutions for decades. But now the 208-year-old Royal Horticultural Society has caved in to public pressure and finally agreed to lift its ban on garden gnomes at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Officials had previously been accused of taking a snobbish attitude to the ornaments, which many deride as ‘tacky’. In 2013, on the 100th anniversary of the show, gnomes were not only to be allowed into the grounds but were positively celebrated. Celebrities were invited to decorate the diminutive gentlemen and a parade of 150 were lined up for official inspection by the Queen.

The U-turn marks a victory for green-fingered rebels who had taken to smuggling gnomes into their displays at the prestigious event.