Autumn Flower Show 2010

This is my blogs 3000th post! I cannot believe I am up to that many already. I have seen a company that prints peoples blogs. Mine will be a very thick book indeed.
This is the highlights from the Autumn Flower show at Harrogate. This is the 99th year that there has been a flower show. They are celebrating 100 years next year at both the Spring and Autumn flower show.
The stars of this years show were the amazing floral displays in the two flower halls. This Alpine Gentian was fluorescent under the halls strip lights. I love the colour of it so it opens the blog post.

This is a beautiful Anemone called Honourine Joubert. Toby Buckland mentioned it in his Gardeners World program last Friday. It is very pretty flower with a striking yellow centre, almost like a stamen crown.

I loved the contrasting colours of the Helenium and the Delphinium here. Blue and Yellow can work together, even though they are on opposite sides of the colour wheel. I tried planting Cornflowers, and California Poppies to get this mixture in a pot unsuccessfully.

We bought two new Hosta plants to join our garden collection. There are five large containers in the garden already, and this year I have got more smaller pots of Hostas from the Walton Plant Stall, and one volunteer plant that I have grown on.
I bought the excellently named Fire and Ice, and Great Expectations. Planted in containers it lines our concrete path and softens the hardness of the concrete path.
The slug damage is minimal, versus a ground planted specimen of Hosta. They have a gorgeous look with their waxy leaves that can funnel water into the base of the plant via the stem.

Autumn is here and there is no better display than the changing leave colours of these Acers. Japanese Maples. I would love one in the garden but the Yorkshire weather is not good for them. They need some shelter from the wind and rain that they are exposed in the north of Britain.

The flower displays at the show are magnificent. Hundreds of perfectly shaped flowers displayed together. Side by side it is a colour fix for the end of the year.

This is the Rose called Eyes For You. The colours are amazing, and it had the full scent of an old English Rose. I could have smelled this all day.

I loved this display of my favourite flower Astrantia, growing against the background red leaved Euonymus. This had beetroot red leaves that turned downward in a spectacular Autumn display. The contrast between the pin cushion flower and the scarlet leaves is great.

This Nasturtium was so vibrant I photographed it. It is an ordinary Nasturtium.I love the flower colour here..

W.Robinson and son are celebrating one hundred and fifty years of selling Vegetable seeds and plants. Their displays are always amazing. It reminds me of a Parisian shop front. The Parisians display their fresh Vegetables outside in amazing displays. These shows show how the vibrant colours and shapes can be displayed artistically. These represent what you can achieve if you want to grow your own vegetables. I bought some Chili seeds and looked wistfully at theirs in the display. Maybe next year mine will be as big.

This Aster was actually a Royal Blue colour, but the camera has made it go lilac. I love the fluffiness of the flowers in the photo.

I always admire the Oriental Lily displays. Cat cannot go near them with her Asthma. The air around this stand is so heavily scented. I liken the smell to from Arabian nights in a bedouin tent..

Every year there are two separate Vegetable growing competitions sharing the second flower hall. Monster sized Vegetables from all over the country competing. They have been nurtured, cossetted, and tended untill showing day. Its like Wallace and Gromit Curse Of The Were Rabbit. These were the Tomatoes.

There were Carrots, Onions, Leeks, Cabbages, Cauliflowers, Runner Beans, and so on. I wander if these giant veg were actually edible? I saw on the news a Grandmother has grown the two longest Cucumbers in the world ever. She is going into the Guiness book of records. She used old seeds that had past their expiry date! She just wanted to grow Cucumbers, not record breaking ones.
The record for the heaviest onion was not broken this year. There is always next year.

There were displays from the specialist groups like these Fuschias. The Carnations, Chrysanthenums, Streptocarpus, Dahlia, Bonsai, and Bee Keepers were there. They are the experts for those types of plants. They must enjoy coming to the flower shows twice a year to meet the public, and answer their questions.

Alongside that was the Floristry competition. It was amazing the ingenuity that goes into some of the designs. The judges had walked around and left notes for the entrants. I like the growing the flowers before they end up cut and placed into a display.

The last photo of my 3000th post is of a bowl of Roses. I took this photo because it showed the variety of colours of Roses.They are my most favourite flowering plant. Scented Roses are heavenly in a garden.
There were craft stalls, food stalls, live music at the entrance and the bandstand. There were fruit growing competitions too with a vast display of British Apples (note to Asda)..
It rained on and off when we were there. It was a grey day, but i loved it. The Harrogate Autumn Flower show is like a finale to the growing season.
The next flower show is not untill April 2011. These photos have captured some of the essence of the Autumn Flower Show.