HARROGATE FLOWER SHOW PREVIEW
Our guide to all the things you can see and do
THE best way to enjoy lateseason colour, giant veg, floral displays and go for a shopping spree is by visiting the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show. So what’s special and different this year?
Visitors will be able to see a new exhibition, tracing the ancestry of some of our most popular plants. With so many plant varieties now available, it’s easy to forget that many were first brought to our shores by intrepid plant-hunters who risked life and limb to discover the delicate and the dramatic.
You can find out how camellias arrived here from China, which adventurer discovered tea, and imagine what life would be like if Henry Wickham had not travelled to Brazil and collected seeds from Hevea brasiliensis, the rubber tree.
So if you fancy learning a little of our horticultural heritage, don’t miss the ‘Postcards from the Hedge’ exhibition.
If you fancy growing and showing giant vegetables but have never tried it before, the show is launching three new classes for novice growers, to encourage the next generation of champions.
The classes, for the heaviest tomato, heaviest marrow and longest runner bean are open to anyone who has not won a prize at a regional or national event.
Giant veg
It may be too late to enter your own veg this year (closing date to register entries is this Saturday, 9 September), but it’s worth having a look to see the standard, so you can show off your wares next year. A schedule is available to download from the show website (see panel, right).
Meanwhile there are 13 expert classes for the heaviest and the longest, including pumpkin, marrow, parsnip, leek, cabbage, potato, beetroot, carrot, rhubarb, runner bean and cucumber.
The National Heavy Onion Championship will include a world record weigh-in (at 12 noon on Friday 15 September ) to find out if the current titleholder can be toppled.
Border gardens return this year with inspiration for smaller plots. Designers will take visitors on a trip around the world, with unique planted borders inspired by the colours, sights and smells of different continents.
One border, Journey of Discovery, is inspired by the charity Horticap’s 33-year journey since its inception in 1984. Featuring a large wooden boat laden with plant discoveries from around the world, it also showcases the craft skills of its students through colourful papier mache fish, surrounded by grasses to represent the movement of the sea.
Allotment secrets
In another border, Sommat for Nowt,
Harrogate’s allotment-holders are sharing their secrets for creating practical uses for unwanted objects. From fireguards to beer cans, there is very little that can’t be used on a productive plot.
Other features to see at this year’s show include the plant nursery pavilion which will host dozens of displays by top UK nurseries. From hostas to hydrangeas and air plants to acers, there are plants for every space in your garden.
And don’t miss the floral displays. NAFAS flower clubs from the North East will be creating their interpretations of the popular postcard phrase Wish You
Were Here, with the North East Area depicting the Caribbean for their central display. Thailand, India, South Africa and Spain will also be represented among the large-scale flower arrangements.