Gardens
The shows must go on
Ursula Buchan
Harrogate, Ebbw Vale, Malvern, St Helier, Chelsea, Hampton Court, South- port, Edinburgh. Defunct marquisates? By- elections won by the Liberals between 1920 and 1955? No, simply some of the major regional or national flower shows and gar- dening 'festivals' which have been, or will be, held this year.
I sometimes wonder if the much-vaunted British mania for gardening is not more accurately just an enthusiasm for a spe- cialised spectator sport — a passive version of crown bowls or speedway. Our leisure seems as often spent wandering around the perimeters of huge tents, eating 'steak' sandwiches and talking crossly to our chil- dren as in cultivating our gardens. We no longer contribute our own gardening efforts to small local flower shows and they are dying of inanition as a result. Instead, we go to see what the nurserymen and landscape contractors can do, fleetingly, to entertain and intrigue us. Horticultural shows may help us while away a few hours but they are fiendish hard work for the nurserymen, especially in a recession when we all 'just looking'. It is quite possible for them to spend every week in the season setting up a display at a county or regional show somewhere, for all the world as if they were window-dressers, only for a sniffy judge to complain about the spelling on the labels and mark the exhibit down to a 'bronze'. For two-man bands (the majority of specialist nurseries), that is a hefty commitment and a potential- ly disheartening one. To stage a good exhibit means growing, and transporting, at least twice as much as will eventually be needed; after five-day shows, like Chelsea and Hampton Court, many of the plants used will be unfit for sale by the time they are home again.
Of course, no one need exhibit if they do not want to, just as no tabloid newspaper need follow the doings of the royal family, and no Rotarian need turn up at the George on the second Tuesday lunchtime in every month. But choice can seem syn- onymous with compulsion.
With what mixed feelings, therefore, must nurserymen view the recent increase in 'mega-gardening events'? Last week, I went to Hampton Court International Flower Show, only in its third year but already well-established. This is widely spo- ken of as the summer rival to Chelsea. It is no such thing. It is like a huge, exclusively horticultural county show. Despite the august setting, it is informal, friendly, and determinedly all-things-to-all-men. It seemed fitting that, on the day I was there, Radio 2 was broadcasting from the show.
Hampton Court appeals to families, especially those with small children, who are not allowed into Chelsea. But, to its credit, it has managed to avoid fairground attractions; there is no chance of seeing the show through a bilious haze from the top of a Big Dipper. In the end, it is atmo- sphere more than anything else which sepa- rates the two shows. At Hampton Court, there is far less of the stuffy, earnest serious-mindedness of the Chelsea crowd, which is so off-putting to the new visitor, and so comforting to the old.
The nurserymen seem to like it, it must be said, despite its length, because they can sell plants there (at Chelsea only orders can be taken). What is more, although south-west London is hardly free from traf- fic, it beats Chelsea into a cocked hat for convenience. The show is well-organised, there is masses of space and the crowds can get to the stands easily.
Unlike Chelsea, most plants are seen flowering in their due season, although Marks and Spencer could not resist mount- ing a display of flowering spring bulbs, just to show what you can do with refrigerators and money. This year there were some first-class nursery displays in the six con- necting marquees, and it was a pleasure to see so many small nurseries exhibiting a range of summer perennials. However, I found the laid-out gardens (which are such a feature of Chelsea) generally disappoint- ing: with one or two honourable excep- tions, such as Scottlandscape's garden of recycled materials and the Sunday Times/Brooke Bond 'tea garden', they were gimmicky rather than truly imaginative. The requirement that the public be able to walk all round the 'gardens' not only gives these a disembodied look, but presents a design challenge which not all can rise to.
Next year, we are promised two major new national shows: the RHS Spring Gar- dening Fair at Easter at Wembley, and the BBC Gardener's World show. I trust that the horticultural industry is already think- ing up new and exciting ways of entertain- ing us.
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