Just a brief round-up of this, as I’ve got a couple of gardens to write about as well. Not that the show doesn’t deserve a thorough write-up. In fact I was very impressed by the standard and diversity of the gardens and the plants here and had a great day.

The car park and surrounds of the Birmingham NEC might not seem to be the most attractive place to hold a garden show, but they allowed plenty of space for a huge number of show gardens, a large area of raised beds (Beautiful Borders), a display of wheel barrow planting produced by schools, a huge floral marquee, a ‘plant village’ of excellent nurseries, and that’s before you go inside to see all the stands of garden buildings, tools, irrigation equipment etc etc. A mind boggling amount to see and none of it felt overcrowded

Show gardens

There were so many show gardens its hard to know where to begin, and the standard was very high. The High Line garden (last picture) was superb. I’ve been to the High Line in New York and this garden captured the spirit of it very well, even though it was shrunk to fit into a much smaller space. The Getaway Garden (first picture) a simple design for a small, linear garden which is what so many people own. It was beautifully done and brought to life with lush planting that would be easy to maintain. The Children with Cancer UK Strength of Humanity garden (bottom left or fourth picture), featuring a bell, which is rung by the children who have completed their often gruelling treatment. The Moroccan-influenced Morgan Oates garden (fifth picture), designed as an after-work retreat that would be quite a treat to come home to.

Beautiful borders

This is such a neat idea. I’d seen something very similar at RHS Chatsworth but hadn’t realised they were also such a feature at BBC Gardener’s World Live. Small raised beds where the designer can showcase a simple design, these focus on plants and featured many lovely plant combinations. They all have a story to tell, and it struck me that to be able to tell that story through plants in such a simple way takes real skill.

The floral marquee

There was much more to see in the floral marquee. A huge pyramid of colour in the centre, with four satellite pyramids, all decked out with new varieties of plants. Nurseries showcasing their plants in small stands and displays such as the alpines from Ice Alpines Nursery (surely these are due for a comeback – they’re perfect for small gardens), stunning plants such as Thalictrum ‘Splendide’ and Astilbe sinensis ‘Vision in Red’ from Moore and Moore plants.

I’d really recommend the show will definitely try to come back next year.