Gardening seems to be beating the recession, by Gillian Bond.
With 30% more attendees than last year, and described as the best yet, the RHS Press Event on 3rd February seems to indicate that gardening is beating the recession. All the major journals were there, and so were a few gardening celebrities, including a life size cut-out of Alan Titchmarsh, that made quite a few of us jump.
Winner of the prize for the best stand was the Nether Wallop Trading Company that had an attractive presentation of their well made gifts, gardening and household products. The one that really took my fancy was the neat wooden gadget for turning newspaper into biodegradable pots for growing and then planting out seedlings.
Vertical growing seemed to be the flavour of the month, with a selection of systems on show. These ranged from neat woven wall hanging pockets to an eye-catching free-standing frame that supports shiny steel holders that conceal peat bags, from which grow plants that emerge through holes in the steel. Perhaps the most versatile system was that from Treebox, which is based on robust panels of troughs that can accommodate established plants for instant effect.
A bit of classy garden art was provided by Haddenstone, who showcased their new collection of classical busts made from cast limestone. They also gave away lovely little Ammonites in various colours.
The Husqvarna stand featured their dear little solar/mains powered lawnmower – the size of a baby Hoover that buzzed around all on its own, restricted to its lawn of Astroturf by an electric border wire. From experience at construction shows, I can tell you that if a stand has anything on it that moves, be it girls building a wall or mowers, it gets lots of attention.
A sprinkling of major plant growers, some of better known online garden retailers, and even a stand selling Indian garden umbrellas and other artefacts for an exotic garden setting, completed the scene at this very busy and popular event.
The new products area, which was arranged along the lunch queue (super food, by the way), raised well over £1500 for the Greenfingers charity, plus a very generous donation of £500 worth of gift vouchers from the HTA.
What took the whole afternoon to install the day before, was cleared away in a twinkling by busy stand holders and the RHS workforce, all overseen by the unfortunate chap whose job it is to control the parking and loading of so many white vans and huge lorries.
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