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Exotic flower
I enjoy a quick foray into the National Plant Societies Marquee as there are always a wealth of unusual things on offer that aren't available from the large nurseries. This year the displays put on by all the plant societies of the North West are especially good, with a wide range of plants available, everything from Brugmansia, Agapanthus and succulents to carnivorous Sarracenia.
Where some shows have a small table devoted to each one, at Tatton they do things differently, grouping all the plants together to make displays of mixed plant types from all the different exhibitors. The effect is a great display which really relates to everyday gardens, and shows that anyone can be a national collection holder and still have an interesting and varied garden.
For me the best part of the marquee was the stall, manned by groups from across the north of England and featured a wonderful mixture of different perennials, vegetables and houseplants all grown by the members themselves. Each plant was lovingly grown and labelled, and sold with the helpful advice of the person that propagated it. The effect was like a giant garden fete and certainly offered something for everyone. I was in my element buying far too many plants. Oh well at least I'll be able to take some cuttings and bring some plants back for them to sell next year.
Entering the RHS summer fruit and vegetable competition marquee is like walking into a village show. It's modest in size and the exhibits are displayed on white plates arranged on wooden tables. As in most village shows, the same names dominate the winners cards. I was surprised to see that a lot of them were from as far away as Plymouth and Essex, but this is a national competition and rather early in the season for northern growers.
Alongside the plates of beetroots and carrots are handy tips for the aspiring exhibitor. Advice like '..to get good colour in your beetroots, water the row with a solution of 10ml of salt in a gallon of water 2 weeks before harvest' or 'after washing your carrots, wrap them in damp kitchen paper and keep them cool - good colour is worth 3 or 4 points', could make all the difference.
The fruit exhibits impressed me most - it was painful looking at huge, luscious black cherries 'Summer Sun' and not being able to taste them. I've never tried the strange looking 'doughnut' peaches, but was assured they are very sweet, have white flesh and a very small stone, 'Saturn' was the variety on show. One allotment society from Yealmhampton near Plymouth had a fantastic display that included a pineapple!
Very helpful fruit enthusiasts from the Northern Fruit Group (www.northernfruitgroup.com ) are on hand to give advice and answer questions. I found out how to prune a reluctant gooseberry and Clifford from Fruitscape told me there was no excuse for not growing lots of fruit in my small London garden.
Info from:
Private Club
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