To have Hostas in leaf for the early April they need a little encouragement. Plants for the #RHS Cardiff show are started into growth under the stairs then moved to the greenhouse

 

Display plants waiting for the spring

Each year we try to improve the quality of our displays at the flower shows The plants we will be using this year have been growing on for 3 or 4 years

 

 

It’s a cold and frosty morning at the start of a new season

Chelsea is the premier event of the show season and we were delighted to receive our forth consecutive Chelsea Gold medal.

The section process is for the RHS shows is tough and we were not originally being selected for Chelsea despite receiving the award for the best specialist exhibit for 2015. However we were  grateful to be allocated 17 ft stand following a cancellation.

Chelsea is one of the most difficult shows to stage. Access to the site is difficult and requires careful marshaling by the RHS team and much patience. It took 4 days of painstaking, back breaking work to stage our stand ready for judging on Monday, the preview day when the press, celebrities and the Royal family attend.

My most memorable show to date for several reasons. The weather for most of the show was perfect, after weeks of cold it turned warm and sunny and people flocked to the show. Our plants were in great condition and sales exceeded our previous record.

The Brookfield stand at Malvern

 

Late on the afternoon of the third day there was an impressive thunder storm causing a torrent of water to rush through the floral marquee. By the next morning it was all cleared up and we had another good day.

The other memorable incident occurred on the way to the show at 4.30 in the morning on the M4 when it transpired that the van was a little over weight, as they say; there’s never one (policeman) about when you want one