Things you may not know about staging a Show Garden and Reasons to think twice before agreeing next time !
“… a garden to include shocking pink and raise awareness of overactive bladder, …submit it to the client’s board by Wednesday.” …“…paperwork needs to be finalised for Hampton a week today,” …“a large show garden but only the budget for a small garden”, said The Voice on the other end of the line one Friday in March this year.
It was one of those moments when I heard the voice that belongs to my body say completely the opposite to what my brain was thinking. “No problem!” I heard it blurt, as I clapped my hand over my mouth in horror at the utterance I had issued. The mild hysteria began to set in as the head registered what my mouth had not: Twelve weeks to plan and stage something that would usually take twelve months!
The Concept – Artists impressionThose of you that know me will know I am not averse to toilet humour in any way but to put across a serious message about this subject?
The ‘A Matter of Urgency’ garden was conceived in one weekend of serious both-end-candle-burning and the path to Hampton Court Flower Show began once more.
A patch of paint-edged and baked turf signified where we were to start this undertaking. Just behind us and the railings to the palace garden, an enormous cedar tree played host to a family of young herons.
The build was continually HOT and we had no shade at all from 7am-9pm when we were evicted each evening. The glow in the dark summer torso returned as we all took on a healthy, albeit speedy tan. Hats were essential and it became commonplace for us all to drink in excess of three litres of water a day.
As the days progressed, the garden started to take shape and before we knew it the assessors (main judges) were there ready to assess on the Sunday, prior to the judges judging (!) the following day.
The realisation dawned, that despite the long hours and above and beyond devotion to duty from the entire team, we were running out of time. Be in no doubt this was one of those hideous moments when you want the world to stop, and crawling into a spider and snake-filled hole would be infinitely preferable.
Granted, it was only the finishing touches but some things had to be left undone. My fabulous Perfumed Garden team worked tirelessly like Rumpelstiltskin, magically whisking all traces of the panic away, aided by the power of the two trucks headlights into the night, really pulling together as I temporarily went to pieces.
One day I will tell the show organiser that because we were so late leaving that night, (11.45 pm!) we had to crawl under the security fencing to get to the cars. I may also add when I do tell her, that upon finally walking the half mile and finding the cars, we found all the gates locked so had to drive round the compound until we found the security guard who had a key. Bedtime was 1.30am.
Judging/Press Day came with a reveille of 5.30am. I would like to apologise to everyone that day if I was less than fragrant and feeling just a tad under par. Feeling utterly exhausted, defeated and deflated we rolled up to the showground at 7am ready for the imminent judge’s visit. By the scorching light of the early morning sun we all looked a bit bewildered and dazed. The garden actually looked all right, didn’t it?
Then came the surprise…there were photographers at the garden and they loved it, the show organiser said wonderful things about it and so did other passers by, the sponsors were delighted. People laughed at it but also listened to the message and were interested in why we had incorporated the things we had done.
Despite the disappointment of not finishing every last tiny detail, we had pulled it off. I know it wasn’t to everyone’s taste – “a sewage outlet pipe at the seaside” was something that I overheard from a very well spoken female, making me smile quite a lot and thinking to myself “Well you certainly noticed it though didn’t you, madam?”
Of course it was MEANT to make you want the loo as you stood there; that was the whole point, and “no madam, it is nothing to do with water conservation”, but raise awareness we did and I’m so glad. The overall reaction was fabulous with people on their phones saying “I’ll meet you by the pink tap”.
The judges knew where we had fallen down, awarding us a Silver Gilt medal (between a silver and gold) but were very fair and correct with their feedback.
Now it is consigned to memory and photos. The pink tap has gone to its new home at the company HQ, plants have gone to their new owners and us gardeners have had a decent number of long and restful nights sleep.