Tags
Bute Park, Edible Garden Show, National Gardening Week, RHS Cardiff Show, Sea Spring Seeds, Staddon Farm Nurseries
R A Scamp Daffodils at Cardiff Show (copyright Ian Curley)
I’ve lived in south Wales for nearly six years now but today was my first visit to the RHS show in Cardiff. It’s the first of the outdoor shows, kicking off the gardening calendar and for the last two years has been the culmination of National Gardening Week.
I think in the past I’ve been put off by the timing of the show. Held in April it does suffer from the vagaries of the weather. I have a friend who has visited for the last few years and needed her winter down-filled coat one year and was in a summery dress the following year. Having said that with our changing climate you could probably say that about August. I did think it was about time I supported my local show though. I recently read that the Edible Garden Show, normally held near Coventry, is now moving to a new home in London and think it’s a pity that everything gravitates towards the capital. I’ve also been hunkered down in my study and/or greenhouse for the last few weeks working on my book and growing my plants as the deadline looms ever closer, so felt like I deserved a day out. So with that in mind Cardiff beckoned.
The Sea Spring Seeds Stand – inspirational veg growing (copyright Ian Curley)
The show is set in Bute Park, the grounds of Cardiff Castle, in the city centre. It’s smaller than other RHS shows and more compact but these weren’t negatives by any means. You need stamina for the other shows, particularly if you’re on a plant buying mission. My day at Cardiff was a much more relaxed and leisurely experience. That’s not to say I didn’t come armed with a shopping list. Thanks to the RHS’s great website I had already had a look through the nurseries that would be participating, so I had an idea about what I’d be looking for. Staddon Farm Nurseries and their Primula sieboldii collection was too hard to resist particularly in light of my new found primula plant addiction. There was a visit to Sea Spring Seeds’ stand. I had seen their stunning collection of colourful chillies at the Abergavenny Food Festival last year and having run out of space to germinate any more seeds I made a bee-line for their young plants. I plumped for Hungarian Hot Wax. A paltry 6,000 on the scoville heatness scale but then both Wellyman and I are wusses when it comes to spicy food.
Wheelbarrow garden competition (copyright Ian Curley)
I loved that there were quite a few school groups there, wandering around, having a look at the show gardens and the floral marquees. Some of them had entered the wheelbarrow garden competition that was on display near the entrance to the showground. An inspired idea with some brilliantly inventive designs, lets hope it inspires some budding gardeners for the future.
Considering the prolonged cold start to the year and, up until very recently, the lack of anything remotely spring-like it was amazing that the nurseries in the marquees put on such a stunning show. I think my favourite had to be R A Scamp Daffodils from Falmouth in Cornwall.
‘Up-cycle’ show garden (copyright Ian Curley)
Perhaps the weakest element of this event were the show gardens. They were small and some lacking in any great design or even plants in some cases. Having said that I loved the colours and ideas behind Wade and Nicol Landscape’s ‘Up-cycle’ garden. Wellyman has already been tasked with making some wooden pallet seats for the garden this year.
The weather is looking settled for the weekend so if you fancy a spot of gardening indulgence pop along to Cardiff, you won’t be disappointed.
For more details about RHS Cardiff Show
On the theme of RHS shows, would you like the chance to win tickets to this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. The clothing company Jacques Vert contacted me to say that they are running a competition and would I mention it on my blog. This isn’t an endorsement for them and I don’t receive anything for this but I thought it could be a great opportunity for you to be in with the chance of winning tickets. The prize is two tickets to RHS Chelsea Show for Friday 24th May 2013. Travel and accommodation are NOT included. The closing date is midnight Tuesday 7th May and the winner will be notified by email by 9th May. You need to be over 18 to enter. If you fancy giving it a go you can enter at the Jacques Vert blog. Good Luck!
wellywoman 
Love those pallet chairs too!
Great aren’t they. Hopefully Wellyman can replicate them.
The pallet seats look rather wonderful, but clearly require a better class of pallet than I get my compost delivered on, so I think mine will be used for leak mould bins instead 😦 That veg stand looks amazing, and I rather like the idea of a smaller show, I found Malvern wonderful but exhausting, and wouldn’t dream of going to Chelsea. Sounds like a well deserved and fun day off from book writing and plant primping. But where are the photos of the primulas you came away with?!
A better class of pallet than OH brings home from work too. Need to seek out a source of quality pallets. Sorry about no photos of the primulas. Things are quite hectic at the moment and I forgot to take them and then once I started writing the post…. well you know what it’s like. 😉
It was a great little show. Not too taxing on the feet. 🙂
It’s a sign that spring is definitely here when the outdoor gardening shows begin. I do feel for all the exhibitors with the weather we’ve had so far this year, it must have been a nightmare for them. I’m always amazed at how they manage to have such perfect specimens ready on time.
They did such an amazing job. You wouldn’t have known it had been so bad inside those marquees.
An enjoyable post. It’s good to see that the weather was kind and there was plenty of interest.
I like the idea of a planted up wheelbarrow, and may well look out for an old one as I think I may just have a space for one! The pallet seats look good as well.
I agree about the Edible Garden show moving to London, where it will be a lot farther away for many people and no doubt more expensive. xx
It was so lovely that the weather was great all weekend for Cardiff show. Hopefully the gardening businesses will start to see things improve now. The wheelbarrows were such a great idea and I think one would look great as an addition to your plot. 🙂
The show looks amazing, and not too far from me either, so I might try and get there one year. I have sown some Hungarian Hot Wax Yellow seeds, but they’re not up yet. I particularly picked them as they are milder than many. I’ve also got Anaheim and Poblano Ancho for the same reason. Although I suspect that a “mild” chilli is still a chilli. We shall see.
Really looking forward to trying our chillies.
Glad you enjoyed your day out and found something to be tempted by!
It was a lovely day out and good that it finely felt like spring.
I might have to think about a trip to Cardiff for next year’s show…sounds a good day ;0)
Would definitely recommend it.
Sounds as if you had a good day out WW. That planted wheelbarrow is packed full of colour and sunshine. I can understand your reluctance to visit in previous years because of the timing of the show. The same reason has stopped me from going to the Harrogate Show. Having said that have I have been drenched at Malvern, frozen at Chelsea and soaked to the skin at Southport such are the vagaries of our weather whatever time of year. Will have to stop being such a wimp.
Well that is the British weather for you. Never know what to wear or plan too far in advance. 😉
Seats from free pallets…I like the sound of that. Every garden needs several seats to sit and admire the fruits of one’s work.
They were inspired. Think they’d need cushions though.
Small shows are usually more relaxing than the BIG shows like Chelsea, thanks for the tour. Christina
Ah, we made our way to the Cardiff show this year for the first time too. Small but enjoyable, we thought, certainly not as exhausting as Malvern can be. Those daffodils were stunning weren’t they? And the Primula sieboldii – I lingered over them for a little while too, but came away with a couple of ferns and a Phlomis tuberosa this time. The exhibitors had done an amazing job considering the weather conditions this year.
Well done on planning ahead with your list! I can never stick to just what I was looking for in a nursery.
Looks like it was a good show to go to, amazed by the veg display and I loved the pallet seat what a great idea.
Missed it this year because I was out of the country. Enjoyed last years – a really friendly compact show, hope to be there again in 2014.
Wow I love the upcycling and the wheelbarrow! Funnily enough I just did a post about the London show I went to in March too! That one was really small, I get this impression this was a bit bigger if it had show gardens, but like you say not too big. There’s much to be said about that because when they’re too big you don’t get the chance to see things in much depth. I love the way you’ve got wellyman on the case with the pallet seat 😉 !!!
Hi Anna, It was just the right size for a show. I always get a bit exhausted by the other ones. The pallet seats may have to wait a while as we need a new fence at the allotment, so that is top of the priorities list for now.
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