Comments on: Raising the Bar at Flower Shows

By: Vanessa Gardner Nagel

Vanessa Gardner Nagel — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 02:19:10 +0000

You said what so many of us have been thinking, but much more eloquently and without expletives. Having participated in a show ONCE, I can tell you that the work is utterly backbreaking getting a show garden in on time and then the show owners give you a pittance of time to get it torn down. Show owners also want to make money, so they don’t give much in the way of money to the garden creators. They expect garden creators to do it for the fame and glory and as PR for their business. Most garden designers don’t make the kind of money it takes to do that. The best way is to team up nurseries (like Cistus) with designers and contractors. In this kind of an economy, it takes a village to produce a single garden of any merit. If the public doesn’t respond with business for all of this effort, it is unlikely to be reproduced. So economically speaking right now, it doesn’t wash.

By: rochelle

rochelle — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:31:30 +0000

I am so encouraged to hear that I am not the only one who feels this way about garden shows! I live in Boston now, but moved here from London where the Chelsea Flower show literally changed my life. These days I avoid the new England spring flower show because it is completely devoid of any designer who I admire, it is judged by people who have no business doing so, and it generally has a way of making the most exciting part of my gardening year feel sad, joyless, creativity denuded and simply depressing…. if you are interested, I wrote a rather controversial post about the local New England Spring Flower show which is back this year (after folding last year) here: New England Spring Flower show – Gone (it’s from a year ago, but I still stand by every word)
The new show is actually running this weekend and I am cautiously staying away…maybe I will venture back next year. But in the mean time, I am encouraged by the fact that others, like you, share my sentiment – and that you are seeing improvement….

By: Loree/danger garden

Loree/danger garden — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:13:34 +0000

I hope you don’t mind if I take to quoting you…”It made me want to go spit on an azalea”…perfect, just perfect.

By: Kailla Platt

Kailla Platt — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:44:58 +0000

I’m with you – barkchips and bunchgrass with a few boulders do not make a garden and yet that is what you see, and see, and see.
I will chime in with my own limited experience on this. I work for a small, residential Landscape Architecture office. I consider what we do to be gardens not landscaping. I think there is a difference both subtle and significant. We have been asked to design display gardens for local garden shows and ones in other states. We were thrilled with the idea of really doing something different than the status quo. Unfortunately, it came down to money. We are small and we just couldn’t afford to put out that kind of capital. Being a design firm and not a nursery we couldn’t supply our own plants and would be “at the mercy” of what was available in the trade at that time – which really would have put a damper on the whole affair. I wish there were some way that the organizers of the shows and designers could work something out that would encourage innovation and allow the”little guy” in to play.
Sean’s work points not just to his talent as a designer and a plantsman, but also to the fact that he has a wonderful paintbox of plants to draw from in his own nursery. It really is no wonder he came up with something so wonderful.

By: Jane/Mulchmaid

Jane/Mulchmaid — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:14:18 +0000

I couldn’t agree more with your asessment of the caliber of the OAN speaker roster. I think it rivaled the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle this year.

As for your rant about great display gardens – right on! It’s high time our talented designers took a leaf from Sean Hogan’s garden book. Thanks for saying it so well!

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:49:12 +0000

THANK YOU! I have been ranting about this for a couple of weeks now (since we’ve been immersed in garden shows here in the PNW for the past few weeks). It’s about time garden bloggers stopped tippie-toe-ing around the issue of how unimaginative and depressing these garden show displays really are. Not only are most of them boring but they are actually misleading. After all, it’s usually not best to place a little Cistus as a ground cover underneath a big Rhododendron, right? If the point of these displays is to inspire, then let them not only look dashing but also authentic – not like potted plants swimming in oceans of bark dust at a shopping mall.

Thanks, Tom. I feel better now.