Zones and features
The show featured four new zones, each with its own exciting themed features and displays. Grow was the horticultural heart of the show and focused on plants; Inspire featured cutting-edge gardens and floristry design; Feast celebrated fresh produce; and Escape centred on relaxation and the coast, as well as a Victorian helter skelter to bring a little seaside magic to the Cheshire countryside!
New features included the Feast Theatre with its produce-based cookery demonstrations; the Great British Allotments, combining allotment plots created by community and commercial growers to celebrate the diversity of British allotment gardening; and the innovative Galaxy Gardens.
Ladies’ Day
Ladies’ Day was the perfect excuse for visitors to dress in their most stylish outfits and enjoy a dedicated programme of talks and demonstrations designed to celebrate gardening, fashion and this year’s special theme of “Inspiring Women in Horticulture”. Our fashion scouts had a difficult job in making the “Best Dressed” award this year due to the proliferation of stunning outfits worn by our stylish visitors!
Awards galore
Sanctuary Group’s garden received the Best Large Garden award. The design celebrated the invention of stainless steel 100 years ago and the impact it has had on the world. The Best Small Garden award went to Clive Mollart and Clive Scott’s Sound Idea, which focused on relaxation and meditation through thoughtful planting and design.
Young Designer Tony Woods had good reason to celebrate as he won the title of RHS National Young Designer of the Year 2013 with his stunning garden called Escape to the City. Designers Leon Davis and Brendan Vaughan received the Best Galaxy Garden award for their design Gravitational Pull in a closely-fought contest; four RHS Gold medals were awarded to the gardens in this exceptionally high quality category.
Two special awards were made to recognise creative design, to The National Schools’ Observatory garden and the Mypod Garden by Seven Peas in a Pod – Leeds Metropolitan University.
The Best Exhibit in the RHS Floral Marquee award went to Hoyland Plant Centre. Manchester City Council & Mary & Joseph House received the Best Exhibit in the RHS National Flower Bed Competition award, whilst Interflora received the Best Exhibit in the Floral Design Studio and Bishop Burton College won Best Floristry College Exhibit.
In the Winsford Education Partnership School Garden section, Oaklands School won Best High School Garden and the Best Primary School Garden winner was St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School’s The Dinosaurs. In the RHS Campaign for School Gardening Vegetable and Fruit Trug Competition, Winsford E-act Academy and St Asaph VP Infant School triumphed. First place in the North West Schools Growing Competition was won by Cheetham C of E Community Academy, followed by St Bridget’s Catholic Primary School in second place and St John Bosco RCPS in third place.
RHS People’s Choice award winners
Congratulations to The Mypod Garden and Precious Resources Garden for winning the 2013 People’s Choice awards for large and small gardens respectively (voted for by website users). The Mypod Garden, designed by Seven Peas in a Pod, featured a secluded outdoor pod that offered a private outdoor space for relaxation, and the Precious Resources Garden by APL and Bradstone delivered a low cost but high impact garden that highlighted the way in which we use water.
Source: RHS – Review of the 2013 RHS Flower Show Tatton Park
