Urban Gardens

I went to the Urban Gardens show in London yesterday  – it was quite disappointing. Not enough plants and not enough new ideas..

Firstly a ticket cost £14.00 or £10 if you booked in advance. Normally when you’re charged for a ticket to an exhibition, you get a good discount on the products, so paying for an entrance ticket is well worth it. Not so in this case. The plants cost the same (if not more) than in a garden centre and there was not a particularly wide selection of them. In fact most exhibitors had the same plants on their stands – bamboos, acers, ferns and topiary. There was only one stand selling gardening tools, which cost much more than in a DIY store or online. Furniture and garden features had price tags affordable only by the very rich – or the very stupid.

Design-wise there was nothing new. A few years ago garden design became the new trend – the garden being the exterior room. There have been many excellent ideas and gorgeous gardens created since then – but the ideas seem to have stagnated now. The featured gardens had no significant difference between them – they represented the same ideas, the same themes, the same materials, the same plants. This is a shame. It would have been so much more exiting and stimulating if there were a variety of designs, styles, feels and looks. As to garden furniture, I’d like to know how many were sold. You could get a bench for £1200, modern chairs from £300.00 up to £1000, water features from £500 to £2500. Total madness.

Then there were talks by well-known gardeners and celebrities such as Matt James, Joe Swift and Dan Pearson. I listened to Joe Swift, whose book I have on gardening, but he revealed nothing new about contemporary garden design. He seems to be a good garden-designer and a nice guy  – but he certainly didn’t share his secrets or any useful tips with the audience. I’m sorry I missed out on Matt James, I find his TV shows very interesting and him very enthusiastic  – the Jamie Oliver of the garden.

If people went to this show with some cash in their pocket, to buy good-value or unusual plants, they probably didn’t spend a penny. Not on plants anyway. But there were many other things to empty their pockets  - a small hot-dog cost £2.75 or you could get garlic king prawns for £1.00 each. A not very special bottle of champagne was going for £55 which people could sip sitting on plastic chairs (no snacks, olives or canapes provided!) Total rip-off. Another indication that these sort of events are mainly organised to make a quick profit with as little effort as possible.

My friend and I wasted £20.00 on this show (and more on food & travel) which would have been better spent on plants – my main reason for going to this garden exhibition at the first place. Well, I’ll certainly not attend next year and advise people to spend their money on plants & books or going to some real gardens for inspirations.