Travelsleuth's Diary: September Garden Shows

We gardeners have a busy time of it in September. It's clean-up and bulb planting time and we are galvanised by the calm sunny days of late summer into an orgy of planting. I have been busy clearing away the debris of perennials to dig in hundreds of snowdrops that will brighten the grey days of February with their delicate blooms.

My small cottage garden lawn was softened up by some very welcome rain last week, (it's not ALWAYS raining in England despite rumours to the contrary), and I shall spend time this weekend raising the turf to plant in crocuses and dwarf daffodils. Early flowering pink Crocus tommasinianus with provide a carpet of warming colour and a promise of warmer days to come. They will happily colonize the whole patch of lawn in due course. I shall plant the daffs in my small orchard where they will be shielded from the rain and winds off the Atlantic to give golden colour in late February and early March.

September sees the last of the great national flower shows. In the South the National Amateur Gardening Show, now in its seventh year, takes place at the Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet, Somerset from 6 - 8 September. All reports suggest that this will be the most popular yet with some 45,000 visitors to nearly 1,000 stands, show gardens and displays. As always this is well covered by the BBC.

The following weekend Harrogate, Yorkshire's proud and beautiful Spa Town, hosts its renowned North of England Horticultural Society annual Autumn Show from 13 - 15 September at the Great Yorkshire Showground. This is undoubtedly the premier Autumn flower show in the country.

This is the show highlight of the year for no less than thirteen national societies, among them the British National Carnation Society and the Royal National Rose Society. Florally this is a great show for grand displays Chrysanthemums, dahlias, gladioli, Geraniums, and fuchsias, all of which are on show in profusion under the aegis of relevent national societies. And if you nurture cacti and succulents or bonsai in your greenhouse, you will find devotees of their culture here.

Harrogate presides over the culmination of one of the Northcountryman's favourite garden pastimes; growing monster vegetables. It is venue for the annual National Vegetable Society Championship and the National Carrot, Leek, Onion & Potato Championships. And, believe me, they take their leek growing very seriously indeed up in Yorkshire.

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