October delights

What a joy our speaker was for this Month! Sally Nex was a thoroughly enjoyable and engaging speaker who shared her unique insight in to what goes on behind the closed doors of Chelsea Flower Show! From the bun fight of the press office she talked us through the privileged vantage point being at Chelsea on press day gives you, with out all the crowd kung fu needed to get to the front on all the other days.

There were the stories of reporting about drought planting in thunder storms with Cleve West, how on some gardens green isn’t just green it’s so much more and how the designers are using vertical and horizontal gardens to play with our perceptions. It also made you appreciate the huge efforts the growers and staff go to when building Chelsea with Daffodil displays going up through the night and years of rose breeding going into just 5 or 6 exhibit-able species per Chelsea.
Mostly it brought home that the exhibitors are all in it together, and whether they are Hilliers with their incredible 68 gold medals or a brand new designer having to over come crushing some of London’s oldest water works, they all work with each other to create one of horticultures greatest shows.

Thank you to Jenny and Elizabeth for wonderful cakes and also to Jenni for the wonderful plants donated on the evening.

Next month we have Jane Lindsey coming to tell us all about using climbers in the garden, so especially useful in our small Bristol gardens where vertical space can make a huge difference! We will also be doing the big reveal about this years Christmas activities, can we top the excitement of last year I wonder?

See you in November.
The team.