Vivid colours, sweet aromas, trolleys packed with beautiful blooms, ice cream and Pimm’s… There’s nothing quite like visiting a flower show on a hot summer’s day, and this year’s Gardeners’ World Live did not disappoint. We were thrilled to be the official hedging plant sponsor and showcase our range of plants in the stunning show gardens at the NEC in Birmingham.
From extravagant gardens complete with a huge tree house to sustainable planting and beautiful borders, Gardeners’ World Live is a wonderful celebration of gardening and a great source of inspiration.
This year’s collection of show gardens featured elements from across our whole range of trees, shrubs and hedge plants. Many of our large, pleached trees and instant hedging solutions were used as a backdrop to frame the gardens.
And the good news is, these plants aren’t just for lavish show gardens – you can order them for delivery to your own garden!
We’ve collated the most popular plants and gardening trends from this year’s show to give you some ideas for your own garden transformation.
Hedging
Hornbeam
Hornbeam hedging proved a firm favourite with the show gardens. The dense, green hedging created a striking backdrop for a number of the award-winning gardens including Escaping Seasons of the Mind and Path of Renewal.
Box
In Escaping Seasons of the Mind, Lilidh Matthews and John Tallis used our box hedging to assist them in creating each of the four seasons, showing viewers that we should spend more time working on our mental health.
Beech
The Garden Organic Backyard Biodiversity Garden (designed by Garden Organic) used our beautiful Beech hedging to create a border for their stunning garden. Beech hedging was a perfect idea which fully helps in representing the theme of the garden: to give gardeners ideas on how to bring more wildlife into their own gardens. Beech hedging provides birds with temporary shelter, or even a home!
Bamboo
Fontana Gardens used our different types of Bamboo creatively to make individual statements throughout their garden, rather than using it to create a full hedge. The Black, Golden and Green Bamboo added an individualistic texture to the already varied garden.
Lavender
Another trending hedging species at this year’s show was Lavender, used as both hedging and individual shrubs throughout a range of gardens. Garden Organic used English Lavender to create a lovely low hedge to frame their biodiverse garden.
Topiary
The biggest trend with topiary this year has been to add it into your borders as another texture and level, rather than using them as a feature on their own.
Yew Topiary
SubAqua used some large Yew topiary balls mixed into their raised borders, along with various grasses to create a variety of textures throughout the garden.
Box Topiary
The ever-popular box topiary has been used through many of the gardens, in various forms. The most popular for this year was box topiary balls. Beautiful border winner …and breathe used them to both frame the border and connect people to the garden with soothing colours.
Screen
Liquidambar
Our showstopper screen from this year’s summer show. Almost everyone who visited our stand commented on how incredible this beautiful screen is; and what’s better is that it looks fantastic all year round, even when it begins to lose its leaves in autumn, it showcases the most unusual bark.
Elaegnus
Our trusty Eleagnus screening was used in Escaping Seasons of the Mind for it’s beautiful creamy-white flowers, along with our Star Jasmine!
Star Jasmine
This fast growing evergreen is absolutely perfect for garden shows. It’s star-shaped flowers bring a pop of colour to it’s green foliage throughout the summer months, making it stand out amongst the average hedging screen. Our Star Jasmine is environmentally friendly and has amazing wall cover, making it a great addition to Escaping Seasons of the Mind.
Pleached
Hornbeam
The most popular hedging and tree species of the show this year. Well over half of the show gardens had some form of hornbeam in their gardens. The pleached trees were a great talking point and an impressive feature for the show gardens. Over winter, hornbeam will lose its leaves to provide some light in the darker months.
Photinia
A stunning evergreen species which produces new growth in a lovely deep red, before turning to a mid-green as it matures. Our new range of fresh pleached trees come on striking metal frames which look brilliant in contrast to the lovely foliage.
Feature Shrubs
Angel wings
One of the most popular shrubs of the year, the unusual silky soft texture of the leaves along with the striking colour make a beautiful feature. Escaping Seasons of the Mind’s garden used them to create the bright winter colour in their seasonal garden, along with As You Like It.
Sambucus
Another firm favourite at this year’s show, the dark foliage with light pink clusters of flowers added depth of colour to the show gardens.
Hydrangea
Less of a popular plant for the show gardens, but the visitors at this year’s show were in love with our beautiful hydrangeas. They were definitely a trending shrub this year. With the beautiful colours and unusual varieties which were available, there was a hydrangea for everyone.
Grasses
Pony tails
Perhaps the most popular grass used at the show this year. This soft grass looks like ponytails, hence its name, and creates an element of movement in the garden as they tend to sway in the most gentle breeze. The Chic Garden Getaway and Escaping Seasons of the Mind were just two of the gardens which used these in their borders.
Festuca Eljah Blue
The usual blue hue of the striking grass has made it a popular choice or garden designers at the show this year. The Beautiful Border As You Like It used the Festuca ‘Elijah Blue’ to reflect the story behind to border.
Box Alternatives
As Box Blight is a common pest for many gardeners, we put together a popular display of box alternatives on our stand this year. Featuring Euonymus ‘Jean Hugues’, Ilex crenata and Lonicera nitida, our display proved popular and educational for many of the visitors. We were able to show comparisons and key features of the box alternatives.
