Gardeners from across the country showed off their green fingers at the RHS Flower Show Tatton Park last week and were rewarded for their hard work.
Renowned for its pioneering and innovative gardens and ideas, the show is the pinnacle of the North of England’s gardening calendar.
A highlight of this year’s show was the Galaxy Gardens, a category inspired by the show’s location near Jodrell Bank Observatory.
Visitors also saw gardens created by a new generation of garden designers, in a category to support young talent in horticulture.
There was also the chance to see displays by contenders for the RHS National Flower Bed Competition as well as the award-winning displays of florists and nurseries.
For the first time, this year’s show was split into four distinctive zones: Grow, Escape, Inspire and Feast. Each featured a combination of gardens, plants, food and shopping to reflect the theme of the area.
Grow included nurseries, plants stalls and gardens as well as the best gardening equipment available to buy, while Escape whisked visitors to the seaside, with the Country Living Magazine Pavilion and coastal-themed gardens.
Inspire focused on innovation, conceptual design and fresh ideas, while Feast celebrated ‘grow your own’, with a focus on edible gardens, allotments and organic produce, all complemented by a ‘plot to plate’ cookery theatre hosted by chef Brian Mellor.
Alongside a range of traditional and contemporary gardens demonstrating the skills of designers from around the UK, this year’s show highlights included the Floral Marquee, home to around 90 nurseries, and the National Plant Societies and Plant Heritage Marquee.
The Winsford Education Partnership School Gardens also united schools from across the North West, with 22 small gardens aiming to get children excited about gardening.
The theme for this year was Horrible Histories for the primary schoolchildren and Horrible Sciences for the secondary pupils.
