You presently find me fully inspired after a visit to BBC Gardeners’ World Live at the N.E.C. in Birmingham. If you know me personally, the mention of attending a garden show might take you aback, as my preferred place of comfort would by choice be somewhere much calmer: a quiet corner of a wildflower filled garden, maybe a woodland trail, the allotment or seated on a bench in my garden. After a successful show visit therefore, to now sitting back reflecting with wholly positive thoughts, feels pretty good indeed.

Generally speaking, thinking of how we’ve moved from the local village garden show to the likes of BBC GW Live is hard to fathom. Dozens of trade stands, bottle-necked thoroughfares and variegated willows whipping you in the face when least expected. Weary stall holders wilting under the heat of a marquee alongside their perfectly grown plants, and bite-your-lip moments due to those infuriating push-me pull-me show trollies; possibly the very best and worst garden show product that ever there was!

It might all sound a bit much, and in some ways it is, but there is a reverse side to the coin: a glorious and gigantic garden show in the blazing June sunshine that features the very best early summer flowers. Garden shows of this size, therefore, are meant to be exciting and busy places, and can assault your senses; but there is balance and payback if you seek it. I like to think of large garden shows as magnets, working as super central places where all and sundry converge on one location which is, let’s face it, as convenient as it gets.

This year I once again found the show loaded with atmosphere, some innovative and attractive products and overflowing with ideas to take away. Gardening of course remains the central focus and as you’d imagine, whatever your gardening need, it is likely to be found there. An artistic sculpture for a niche in your garden – tick. An exotic lamp for your conservatory or poolside – tick. A plant for every conceivable garden location – triple tick! It was all there, including a show garden itself that was in need of an onward place to call home – a whole garden up for sale?!

In response therefore to my comments on some of the harder to swallow elements of visiting this or any other large garden show, I’ll confirm that the positives by far outweigh any negatives. I must also record how thankful I am to see the BBC continually place such a significant event in the Midlands, giving gardening folk and nurseries from across middle England and beyond the easiest opportunity to come together and shine.

As I say, the busyness and brilliance of the BBC GW Live show is clear, and if you need further confirmation do check out the Gardeners’ World Live episode from Friday 13th June on BBC iPlayer, which was based entirely at the show. There is however one other more subtle thing that struck me during my visit this time, and that was the power the show has to bring like-minded people together. 

On a high level, those crowds of people whilst visiting the show were simply connecting with a gardening community, all assembling in one central place to celebrate a core subject; and maybe to buy a plant, or a garden. For sure, many visitors will also have stayed in their own bubbles, and just enjoyed the show. Given a birds eye view though, I’m sure all we’d see is people gathering together over their combined love for gardens. Do just think on that for a moment… not a show just to buy stuff, but a show ground where gardeners can gather and communicate – there’s a lot of power in that.

Flying a little closer-in, one example of that power became apparent, the show bringing real time opportunity to hear from our gardening TV celebrities. Honestly, whilst it was a little lightweight, I genuinely found it just as interesting listening to Monty Don talk about the benefits of peat free growing and finding a balance in gardening, as I did hearing Jason Williams ‘The Cloud Gardener’ talk about differing opportunities across the gardening world. Further to that, witnessing the reactions from show visitors was worth seeing itself, and whilst in the most public of arenas, it really did feel as though Monty, Adam Frost and co were simply chatting amongst friends.

Before I sign off from my positivity-fuelled ‘you really must visit someday’ kind of essay, I must drill just a touch further down into my ‘people value’ line of thought. During my day-long visit I was fortunate to bump into a few friends and colleagues, and chat with a some folks who had joined-in with the show effort. Some of these people were previously only known to me via social media, and our brief chats combined with some emotive social media posts have been fascinating, exhibiting quite clearly the power of the garden show to connect and enrich lives. Great work one and all.

All conversations, each garden studied and all things considered, my reaction to the show this year has been overwhelmingly positive. Studying gardens against their levels of award, considering the many details of each design, the incredible efforts by landscaping professional and passionate amateurs alike. Perusing planting styles that are currently fashionable, seeing up-close the highest levels of perfection within the floral marquee, and generally spending time in the company of a green-fingered community; all was resoundingly good.

The show might now be closing for this year but others will come along soon. If you’ve a passion for gardens therefore and haven’t as yet made it to a large show, do try if you can – I can certainly vouch for the great folks who will be waiting there to talk all things plants and gardens. Long live BBC Gardeners’ World Live!

Gary Webb, Gardening Ways