Everyone knows the Chelsea Flower Show; a lot of us watch Graham Ross on TV at Chelsea every year. What you might not realize though, is that the same people who run Chelsea also run other equally spectacular shows throughout the year.

ACS principal, John Mason, visited the first RHS Show for 2016 in February at the RHS London headquarters. Here’s a little of what he saw.
It was a cold morning, well below zero and day time temperatures in February, across England, rarely get above 10 degrees C. The English are a resilient lot who love their gardens, so despite the cold, there is still plenty of gardening going on.

The RHS Show is really a feast for any garden enthusiast, with around 60 exhibitors, a lecture program, experts to answer gardening questions, plants to buy, and some special features like a sneak-peak at the exhibitors and garden designs approved for this year’s Chelsea show.
The vegetables were of particular interest, with a vast array of different types of seed potatoes, onions, shallots, and obscure things to buy like Yacon and Jerusalem artichoke. There was also a fascinating display of beans and peas; celebrating this year as the International Year of Pulses. Check it out at http://www.fao.org/pulses-2016

 

The one thing that stood out was the massive amount of colour you can find in English gardens in the dead of winter. And with winter upon us in Australia, there’s plenty we can still do over the coming months here too.  If the English can do it, then even the coldest parts of Australia can still produce flowering crocus, iris and other things over winter. Let’s face it our weather, in the main, is a lot more benign – so we have few excuses to stop gardening because of a bit of cool weather!

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