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The Garden
August 2005

General news

BBC Gardeners’ World Live
A world of gardening at the NEC

Show gardens and new plants a speciality

BBC Gardeners’ World Live held at the NEC in Birmingham in June had everything the gardener needs. As well as sundries, visitors could find new cultivars, discover plant trends and gain inspiration from the show gardens.

Images: BBC Gardeners’ World Live

Highlights included:

HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall spent several hours at the show. Barry Locke, Head Gardener for The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Garden, showed them the Trust’s show garden which he and fellow gardener Brian Fox designed. It won Best Show Garden.

Pimpinella major ‘Rosea’ is an early-summer-flowering perennial that grows equally well in sun or shade. It is available from Hall Farm Nursery, from £3.50. Tel: 01691 682135.

Rosa Raymond Blanc (‘Delnado’), bred by French company Delbard, is described as having a scent of ‘violet, lychee, lilac and iris’. Available mail order this autumn from Suttons, costing £10. Tel: 0870 220 0606.

Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Selina’ is a new cultivar in the Dutch Lady Series with a reddish tint to the foliage. Available from Burncoose Nurseries, price £9. Tel: 01209 860316.

Proudplants in Carlisle displayed Weigela ‘Golden Candy’, available in limited quantities this autumn at £6.50. Tel: 01768 896604.

Dense, compact Sorbaria sorbifolia ‘Sem’ is said to reach just 1m (39in) in height. Bronze foliage in spring turns green in summer. Plants from http://www.plantagogo.com/. Tel: 01270 820335.

From Westdale Nurseries comes a free-flowering yellow Bougainvillea called ‘Pegasus’. A sport of ‘Autumn’, it costs £10. Tel: 01225 863258.

Ensete ventricosum ‘Montbeliardii’ was displayed by Kobakoba, a first-time exhibitor to the show. It can be grown outside for part of the year. Plants in 5-litre pots cost £17.50. Tel: 01458 210700.

Colonnade (design Sue Adcock) took the award for Best Small Garden and included dark foliage plants such as Phormium ‘Surfer’.

Brightly coloured plants, a willow-bark arch and small pond typified Child’s Play (design Simon Venn). These stepping stones decorated with bottletops and beads were just one idea for encouraging children to play outside.

Potato-and-feather bird scarers, used in the 16th century, provided movement in the richly planted Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Garden (design Barry Locke and Brian Fox).

For a relaxing courtyard garden, Pause (design Peter Stevens) provided a sympathetic balance of hard and soft landscaping.

Visual artist Tom Hare created this giant cactus from greenwood willow on a steel frame. It took three days to complete but should last for five to six years.

Embrace (design Dennis Hennessy, sponsor NEC, Haymarket and Mulu Exotic Plants) transformed the space into a tropical paradise using large specimen plants and recycled hard landscape materials.

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