Taunton Flower Show secrets for success

Our Plant Manager, Andrew Pitman, shares his secrets for success in preparing for the Taunton Flower Show. Our gardens have won a number of awards throughout the years, including Best in Show and many large gold awards.

How do you prepare for the show?

Our first step is to think of a theme that will get people talking during the show. We always go the extra mile to make our gardens stand out, for example, one year we created an oriental-themed garden, which was stunning.

When do you start planning?

We have our initial planning meeting at the beginning of June and make a decision on the theme of the garden immediately following the Chelsea Flower Show. This isn’t really for inspiration but it gives us an idea of what other people are focusing on for the year and allows us to try to create something completely different.

How long does it take to create the garden?

We start building the hard features at the garden centre in July and we visit our growers to get the plants we need. Once we’re on-site at the show it’s a race against time, as we only have three days to put the garden together. It’s always a really exciting time seeing the garden take shape.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

It varies, but we always think about a theme that will allow us to have a great centrepiece that we can plan the garden around. For example, last year we celebrated the garden centre’s 30^th anniversary. It was opened in the 1980s so we decided to use a car from that decade, a Ford Capri convertible, for our centrepiece. Continuing with the 1980s theme, we also used popular plants and designs from the decade.

What is your favourite part?

The highlight for me is when the garden centre owners, David and Luella Bellman, and their family, come and see the garden and we get their seal of approval.

Have you got a favourite garden you entered?

My favourite garden was called ‘Peace and Tranquility Within’. It was a walled garden with a simple green and white theme. What made it so special was that there were only two views into the garden. One through an iron fence and one through a window in the wall. The outside of the walls were covered in graffiti and surrounded by barbed wire, weeds and rubbish – the aim was to show that no matter where you live you can make the perfect garden. It was really well received and got everybody talking – it was great!

We hope lots of people will come along to see our garden at this year’s show and to meet the team. I will be there to chat to visitors and answer any questions, I look forward to seeing you all there.