Some of my highlights from Gardeners' World Live

* I was invited to the press preview for and provided with a pair of tickets to Gardeners’ World Live so I’m marking posts from the show as 'Ad’ - as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

We had a brilliant overnight trip to Birmingham last week for Gardeners’ World Live. I’d not been to the press preview event before, and it’s definitely something I’d do again if I’m invited. It was so nice to see the gardens with fewer people about, and to really chat to those on each garden. We had tickets for the show the next day as well and that made for a more relaxed viewing of everything to see - usually getting to see everything in a day can be hard work.

Overnight we stayed in the Fredericks Street Townhouse in the Jewellery Quarter of the city (paid for, not gifted) - an area we’d not visited before, not to stay or even wander around. It’s a great part of town, and it’s on my list of places in Birmingham to explore further - the buildings alone must have so much history.

But back to the show, here’s just some of my highlights - I’ve so much more to share but am still trying to take it relatively easy while my hand is bandaged. Though the bandage is much grubbier than it was, which I’m taking as an indication that my hand is healing and therefore I am naturally using it more.

Fontana Garden by Kim Parish

For me the tree top room in the Fontana Garden by Kim Parish is the iconic image from this year’s show. At the awards ceremony on the Wednesday, where garden designers learnt of their award, we also learnt that Monty would be opening the show from here, and he did.

This garden celebrates Cornwall and Cornish gardens with inspiration from the sponsor’s own garden, Fontana - wouldn’t it be a dream to have a garden just like this?

The garden right next door had a completely different feel bringing a touch of industrial charm using reclaimed materials. I loved the screen made of scaffold planks for its impact, and heard others also say - it’s got a shelf - but I’m sure it will also attract wildlife, a good thing, but I’m less keen on sharing it with the spiders.

Path of Renewal by David Negus

The Newson Health Menopause Garden by Ruth Gwynn was stunning, and very worthy of its Platinum award, and the best in show. It was designed as a safe, tranquil and comfortable space for women to reflect on their health. Ruth and Dr Louise Newson spoke at the Wednesday ceremony about their garden, and both were just so inspiring, saying that menopause was something that directly affects 51% of the population, and indirectly affects 49% of the population. That brought a wry smile from the women present, and a slightly delayed one from other members of the audience.

The Newson Health Menopause Garden by Ruth Gwynn

When we saw this garden the bath looked so inviting, that for more than a moment I wasn’t sure that MOH wasn’t going to actually try it out or not (he didn’t!).

Escaping Seasons of The Mind by Lilidh Matthews & John Tallis

I loved the structure of the Escaping Seasons of The Mind garden, and I’m a big fan of corten steel, but when I spoke with Lilidh about the garden and what the posts and the journey through the garden represent, it was clear how much thought went into this garden design. Much more than I can do in a short paragraph, so watch out for more on this one, but until then enjoy the decorative corten and planting on display.

It’ll be no surprise to anyone that I was drawn to Sue Kent’s In the Pink Beautiful Border, and it was just as pink as you thought it might be, and then some. It was also a well deserved Plantinum winner.

In the Pink by Sue Kent

A fantastic display by the National Allotment Society

I’m a sucker for vegetables growing in ordered straight rows - most likely because it’s something I’ve never and ever likely to achieve! But I admire those that can, and I’d expect nothing less from the National Allotment Society to be honest.

Also in the floral marquee it was good to see the Barnsdale Gardens stand. They are celebrating 40 years - Geoff Hamilton moved to the current site of the gardens in 1983. I don’t remember him as a Gardeners’ World presenter but we have visited the gardens and they are amazing, and we’re glad that we will soon (hopefully) be living much closer to them to visit again.

The final beautiful border that I’m sharing is one that’s something quite different. It also won awards, including for the best interpretation of the theme, which this year was ‘My Garden Escape’. And no doubt for the best name (if there was an award) as despite its name - Keep Off The Grass by James Fenneberg - had no actual grass.

Keep Off The Grass! by James Fenneberg

The garden transports you through the use of plants and materials - the agaves, and volcanic sand were stunning as were the yellow red hot pokers (another favourite of mine!). James was also one of the few garden designers perpetually armed with a hose or watering can too, and given the weather and increasing temperatures with our changing climate, it’s something more of us are no doubt likely to be giving more thought too.

There’s still so much more to share though, and over the summer I’ll be dipping back into my Gardeners’ World Live photos and sharing more of the gardens with you - as well as the wheelbarrows, always a favourite of mine. If you can’t wait, then I’ve saved a highlight onto my Instagram profile, so pop over there and see more.

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live this year, it was fabulous.

Three from the Design Arcade

* I was provided a pair of press tickets to the Grand Designs Live so I’m marking posts from my visit as 'Ad’ - as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

One of my favourite parts of Grand Designs Live is the Design Arcade. Last year it’s where we met the Card Boys and where we bought our new light so it has pretty good credentials!

Though the show overall seemed smaller than it had been in previous years, and (sob!) there were no room sets, the standard in the Design Arcade was as good as ever. Like any show the participants vary year to year, but noticeably this year at Grand Designs Live there were less ‘big’ and well known companies and more new to us brands, which is not such a bad thing.

But back to the Design Arcade, and what caught my eye this year:

1 Luxury Wallpaper by Avalana Designs

It was the swan wallpaper that caught my eye, and then the wallpapered background of the stand. The detail, the colours and in the case of the flowers, their size. Aren’t they fabulous?

On their website there’s also bedding and furnishings that complement each other, and while once my thing for bedding was ‘crisp and white’ over the past few years I’ve definitely changed my style to incorporate much more colour, so there could be the very real chance of a purchase in the hopefully not too distant future.

And it’s still the swans that are calling me…

2 Scented Candles by The Wick & Wax Co.

I love a candle or two, but it was the ‘Made in Stamford’ that caught my attention as that’s one of the places we’ve been visiting more regularly in our house search. Even though we’ve ruled it out as somewhere to live, it’s very much still on the somewhere to visit regularly list.

On their website there’s information about the luxury candles which are handcrafted in small batches and promises a ‘touch of luxury with a clearer conscience’ - I’m looking forward to seeing more of this company, and smelling their wares at shows which I hope will soon be classed as more local, and exploring their scents to work out which to buy. I don’t know about you, but sometimes the choice is just overwhelming - and not just for candles.

3 Door Signs by These Fair Hands

Now you might be thinking these are like any other door signs you might have seen, but they probably aren’t. These ones are made by from Corian, which is stone like and hard wearing, and you’ve most likely heard it used for kitchen worktops. But it’s also weatherproof which makes it ideal for door signs, which by their very nature are outside and subject to the elements.

On their website you can see the full range of door signs and more - and on the intro page, they say they don’t do standard - every piece they make is different, but beautiful.

This is another future potential purchase for me, and it’s the more modern designs, such as the 93 Lakewood Road sign, that appeal most, but the work in all of them is exceptional.

So some great finds, and some potential future purchases from me which is ok as for the first time ever I think, we left the show empty handed but armed instead with buckets of inspiration.

Through a hedge into The Secret Garden

* I was provided a pair of tickets to the Gardeners’ World Spring Fair and therefore are marking posts from my visit as 'Ad’ - as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

The Secret Garden by Hillier was a central feature of this year’s Spring Fair, inspired by The Secret Garden. It promised to be enclosed by high hedges, and the entrance was through part of this hedge, the design was said to encourage visitors to get up close and personal with the plants displayed, and that was the case, as much as you can at these kind of events.

Unsurprisingly it was a popular feature of the show and it was pretty busy when we visited but generally people gave each other space to enjoy and explore the garden which was absolutely full of plants.

On the right as we entered was the border containing the Himalayan Birch trees and hostas, which was getting much less attention than the border opposite. This area was designed to be more contemporary and included the low-maintenance brilliant white trunked trees. The hostas among the trees represented a ‘sea of foliage’ as a contrast to the colours opposite.

It was nice, but quite understated and in complete contrast to the larger section of the garden, which as you can see, was a lot more interesting.

The border full of herbaceous perennials and shrubs start with whites and purples and go through the spectrum of colours, the idea for the design was to move through the softer, delicate colours to intense and vibrant shades to depict the sun’s movement during the day.

One of the plants stealing the show was the bright pink Judas tree - isn’t it stunning? I think we’ll see more of these, and I’ve already spotted that some of the RHS Chelsea gardens are using them. I know I’d be happy to have one in my garden!

Along the back border the colours changed to the more intense and vibrant colours, with fiery reds and oranges and yellows, representing a bright sunset, and a beautiful end to the day.

Looking back at these photos it’s much more obvious than I remember at the time, though this is most likely because of sharing the space with more people than you would normally share a garden with, so it was much harder to look at the garden as a whole. However the photos allow that, and the planting is really rather special.

My other hot tip is shallow pots complete with pebbles and water - we saw these in more than one garden at the Spring Fair, and it’s something that’s easy to replicate at home, so I think we’ll see more simple water features in our gardens, and that can only be a good thing.