HPS Shows

Shows

Southport Flower Show 2009

Gold and Chairman’s Award for HPS

In addition to their GOLD MEDAL, the North West Group were awarded the Southport Flower Show Chairman’s award for the Best Amateur Display

The Team from the HPS North-West Group with their well-deserved winning.
From left to right, the team are Glenda, Sandy, John, Helen, Neville, Heather and Audrey.

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The North West Group had two sites at the show, a 3 x 3m island bed for showing a variety of plants and an adjacent bureau used to more directly promote The Hardy Plant Society and educate.

The Southport Show brief was the 1920’s

One of our problems in designing this display was to find out what could define the 1920’s. Many gardens around that time were pre first world war in concept, classified as ‘arts and crafts’; a beautifully crafted balance between formal lay-out and informal planting, much influenced by Gertrude Jekyll, Sir Edwin Lutyens and William Robinson.

We decided that we could show the influence of the 1920’s by the way we laid out the display and by using as many plants as possible typical of the time.

For the layout of the display we decided to take inspiration from the 1920’s use of space and colour in ‘modern art’, which was bold and innovative. Geometrical elements were important as was contrast in colour, form and materials. Designs were balanced but not symmetrical. The 3m square island display is divided into three contrasting beds. One held cooler coloured plants, one warmer coloured plants and one was close to green.

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In planting, we used perennials typical of the time, and if possible available in the 1920’s. Roy Lancaster sent us a list that he copied from Kelway’s manual of 1926 [thanks to Dr Brent Elliot, archivist Lindley library] and we used that as our starting point in sourcing plants.

Many plants were used for the quality of their leaves as opposed to their flowers. This is particularly true for the ‘Green’ bed.

Many of the plants in the display were grown by members of the North West Group of the Hardy Plant Society. Others were sourced from local nurseries.

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In the Bureau, we aimed to encourage people to join the HPS and so we showed members at work and play. For the educational aspect, we used Heuchera to show that a greater variety of plants is available now than in the 1920s, partly because of plant breeding. The Hardy Plant Society is also involved in plant conservation. Members of the North West Group are conserving a number of plants including two varieties of Heuchera, which were either on the island display or in the bureau.

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