Gardening,
Roll up! There’s a top f loral event waiting for you on your doorstep
Chelsea Flower show is next week. Tickets are almost sold out, but you can enjoy the show in comfort at home. You might even see more on television than when buffeted by the crowds. Chelsea is by far the world’s most famous flower show. But other events over the coming months have qualities that the great london show lacks. The setting for Chelsea is superb, but some alternative venues are even prettier. Out-of-town shows are less crowded, ticket prices are lower and there’s ample parking.
They also have talks, food shows, demonstrations and celebrity appearances. You can buy and take home top-quality plants on any day of the show as well. so if you miss Chelsea, here
are some brilliant alternatives around the country. TAKE YOUR PICK
n Gardening Scotland, June 24, Edinburgh: as well as scotland’s biggest plant fair, 400 exhibitors will construct show stands and gardens (gardening scotland.com). n Shrewsbury Flower Show, August 11-12: On a huge bend of the River severn, there’s horticulture galore, as well as cookery,
show jumping and live music (shrewsburyflowershow.org.uk).
n Southport Flower Show, August 17–20: The amateur competition is one of the finest in Britain. admire faultless flowers, fruit and veg, and jars of honey. The chef ainsley harriott and TV gardener Carol Klein will be there (southport flowershow.co.uk). RHS SPECIALS n Chatsworth Flower Show, June 7–11: New this year, there
will be show gardens by top designers, including sam Ovens and Jo Thompson, (rhs.org. uk/chatsworth).
n Hampton Court, July 4–9: Besides innovative show gardens, there’ll be home-grown food, dazzling floral marquees and the Rose Of The Year show. Only 30 minutes by train from london Waterloo. (rhs.org. uk/hamptoncourt). n OTheR Rhs events include Tatton Park, near Knutsford, Cheshire, July 19-23, as well as shows in the four Rhs gardens.
These are harlow Carr, Yorkshire, June 23–25; hyde hall, essex, august 3–6; Rosemoor, Devon, august 18–20; and Wisley, surrey, september 5–10. Tickets and details at rhs. org.uk/shows-events. AUTUMN GLORY NeVeR underestimate the delights of an autumn show. The best include an abundance of home-grown produce, as well as gorgeous late flowers. autumn is optimum planting time, too — so the shows are excellent places for buying new plants.
n Harrogate Autumn Flower Show, September 15–17: a cracker for late floral displays. Popular events include a monster onion contest. For flower lovers there are nursery exhibits, competition chrysanthemums and whopping ‘wedding hat’ dahlias.
For details about the autumn show, and the spring show in april, see flowershow.org.uk.
n Malvern Autumn Show, September 23-24: The year’s last major flower show. like Malvern’s bigger spring show, it has well-designed floral exhibits and plenty of plants, bulbs and equipment for sale. a delightful way to wind up the gardening year, malvernautumn.co.uk.