Southport Flower Show UK

[newton]

Attended Southport Flower Show today. It was held in Southport near Lancashire/Merseyside.

It was a delightful day with hundreds of exhibitors ranging from Dahlias to Fuchsia and Bougainvillea growers displaying their best in show. I was particularly impressed with the quality of the vegetables whose displays were truly magnificent.

There were some very impressive landscaping exhibits displayed with the actual designers on site to help with any questions that were to be asked. I came away with some very good ideas to take back to Pakistan with me. If only I could persuade one or two of the landscapers to come along and recreate what they had achieved but sadly due to the media coverage of the political situation in the country they felt unsafe to currently travel to the country.

Also had a fascinating personal discussion over lunch with the world renowned English author, broadcaster, environmental campaigner and botanist David Bellamy OBE who, even at eighty years old was still as sharp as a button in respect of his knowledge of the plant world, how it relates to the animal kingdom and us. One of the things that struck a chord is that he said since the second world war he had been around the world more that twenty times, dived in all of the worlds oceans and visited most rainforests, in particular ones where the south American and north American plates meet and the oceans on either side provide a rich addition. In his first visit he was amazed at how this little pocket was teeming with diversity and richness of life. quite unique in the world due mainly to its location and the environment. When he returned twenty years later he found all of this vanished, gone,,, the forests being cleared to make way for huge commercial farming purposes like palm oil. Makes one think what we might be losing doesn't it.

I also spent an interesting time with curators of the world’s leading garden plant conservation charity, they operate with the talents of botanists, horticulturalists and conservationists and the dedication of keen amateur and professional gardeners. Through their National Plant Collections and the Threatened Plants Project, they encourage the conservation of cultivated plants in the British Isles. Specifically I left with some old fashioned phlox, roses and Asters that are no longer commercially available and threatened with extinction. My intention is to distribute cuttings or offshoots of these to as many as possible and preserve them this way.

The show ended at 5pm but at 4pm the exhibitors of whom there were over 300 sold off many of their plants at very very low prices, for example the fuchsia and dahlia exhibits were broken up and the plants practically given away.

From 13-15th September I will be attending the North Yorkshire flower show to be held In Harrogate. this is billed as one the top three shows held in the UK. If any readers are in the UK wanting to attend over this period and require assistance with either accommodation or local transportation then I can make myself available via personal message.

I will attach some pictures in due course

[newton]

Some pictures of the show gardens. this particular one showing considerable Islamic influence from the rills or water channels and geometric proportions which are repeated regularly. I like the black tiles or paint under the water giving it a feeling of depth beyond its actual dimensions, plus it cleverly disguises any green water

[newton]

Some more prize winners mainly cottage garden style but with a Mediterranean influence

[newton]

I will add some more in due course

A real bed within a bed (of flowers)

[newton]

Carnations and Dahlia blooms

[Hamad Ahmed Kisana]

extraordinary blooms..thanks for sharing.

[Mustansir Billah]

Superb.

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

Inspiring, Thank you.

[Munir]

Wow....brilliant....wahwah !

[newton]

Some super size vegetables judged for their size, quality and overall presentation, some of the carrots and root vegetables are grown in special containers to allow the roots to develop straight and they don't get damaged when removing them for the purposes of the show.