RHS Cardiff Show – Spring has Sprung

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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!

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RHS National Gardening Week 16th – 22nd April

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Cannington Walled Garden, Cardiff Flower Show, Harlow Carr, National Gardening Week, RHS, Rosemoor, Wisley

RHS Cardiff Flower Show, the culmination of National Garden Week (photo courtesy of Picselect).

For the first time the RHS are hosting a week-long celebration of gardening starting on Monday 16th April and culminating with the first RHS garden show of the year at Cardiff. The aim of National Gardening Week is to bring gardeners across the country together and to encourage more people to be bitten by the horticultural bug.

The RHS have devised a packed week of events taking place at their headquarters at Wisley and their regional centres, Rosemoor in Devon, Hyde Hall in Essex and Harlow Carr in North Yorkshire. From composting clinics to meeting the gardeners and how to plant up an alpine trough to weed identification their should be something that tickles your fancy! It’s not just RHS sites that are taking part, other venues such as Woburn Abbey and Cannington Walled Garden are laying on events, too and the RHS are encouraging people across the country to come up with their own ways to celebrate, such as plant fairs and seed swaps.

Each day throughout the week has a particular theme, so the Wednesday is about careers and encouraging people to think about horticulture as a profession and the environment is the theme for the Thursday. It was Tuesday 17th that caught my eye, entitled Gardens of the Nation. The RHS want garden owners across the country to take photos of their garden on that day and then email their photos to them. The plan is to build a bigger picture of the nation’s domestic gardens, which will become a unique record of social and horticultural history.

The RHS already has an unrivalled collection of horticultural history that spans almost 500 years at the RHS Lindley Library, the world’s most important gardening archive. But gardening continues to evolve, and the RHS want to preserve for history a record of the styles and trends found in our gardens today. I love this idea, especially for those of us who don’t live near the RHS gardens or other venues hosting events for National Gardening Week. It means many more people can still take part in the event and what a great archive of material for future generations wanting to see what our gardens looked like on one day in 2012.

There will also be a daily Facebook gardeners’ question time when problems can be put to RHS members of staff. So any thorny issues troubling you, then why not ask the experts.

For more information on National Gardening Week and a list of events take a look at the dedicated website. This is also where you will find the email address for sending in your garden photos.

I’d love to hear if you have any plans for National Gardening Week and to see photos of your gardens next Tuesday.