MALVERN SPRING SHOW

i must admit i was a malvern spring show virgin until last year being more of a fruit and veg man. i have been going and exhibiting some of my wares with varying success to the Autumn show for many years now but never quite made it to the spring show. for one reason or another but last year the owner of a garden i look after offered to take me up there for the day to buy plants bench's and generally get some new ideas for the garden we are restoring. so i jumped at the chance to go especially when we where buying lots of stuff and non of it with my money makes it more. fun we set of about 10am on a glorious Sunny day all was going well until the
M5 came to a stand still with only the back of a lorry to look at for an hour. but once we got past the hold up caused by a lorry changing a Tyre and and an over excited wannabe police man (sorry highway patrol officer)decided to close the outside lane. it was non stop all the way to the lovely malvern you can't get lost really just head for the hills oh the big yellow signs help as well. we finally parked up in the public car park handed over our tickets and then we where presented with an array of gardening products and plants enough to make you go weak at the knees. OK a lot of the products on offer that make this job and that job apparently easier with which have fantastic demonstrations that make want to fro money at the man. but i must admit i have a few of these purchase covered in dust at the back of the shed. used once or twice and than placed in my tool grave yard but there are many brilliant stalls there. the first one was nature first a company i have had dealings with for many years these are the people to go to if you want a big tree they brought along a few fine specimens for people to drawl over. we worked our way through the miles of stalls to be presented with the show gardens this is what we came for not a leaf or flower out of place. show gardens always make you feel that you don't do enough in you own but show garden are of for showing off they are meant to be perfect some bit's are not practical in real terms but it is theater. you always hear the same comments there is no where to hang your washing, no room for a compost bin etc. but there is not meant to be it's a place for the brave i say brave because of the amount of work that goes into a show garden. i have built a few in the past and what ever time you think you need times it by three and its more nearer the mark. weeks and months of preparation goes in to thees garden and the hardest bit about is taking it all apart at the end. its not natural gardeners build garden to last but in the case of a show garden it takes longer to built the thing than the public take to look at it but they are worth it. especially if you get the ultimate gold medal sorry I'm rambling. we got a few ideas that we may try out planting combinations etc. we was then off to the floral marque you no when you are in there the sent off all the plants you don't get it any where else except at a show. a mixture of all the scents coming off the flowers not to mention the walls of colours from the magnificent displays. this is when it was a good idea i left the wallet in the car you can get carried away very easily with buying plants. which we did but i was spending some one Else's money which is always easier to do. after many purchase and a couple of trips back to the car when are hands where full and we had spotted another plant that we have to buy. it was time to go and that was it luckily we had brought the range rover other wise one of us would have been walking back home i am looking forward to going back to visit again to see whats new.