Friday, June 20, 2014

Grow London - The Contemporary Garden Fair

Today will be the official start of the Grow London - The Contemporary Garden Fair, a three day gardening event in Hampstead Heath, London but last night they held a preview evening for those wanting to have an extra early look on what will be on the fair. The preview evening was also to raise some extra funds in aid of the Garden Museum also in London.



Ginkos in a Box... 

And yes, we were there last night and had an early look on this much anticipated brand new plant fair, from the same people that organised the highly successful (and still much missed) Cottesbrooke Plant Fair and Affordable Art Fair.

Gaz admitted he would quite like one of these old Citroen Vans



As implied by the title and the location of the event this fair is geared more for urban gardeners and urban settings where space can be tight and a more contemporary style of gardens and approach are called for. Modern....contemporary....the lines are easily blurred between these two words but there were plenty of such outdoor furniture and garden accessories to look at (and more importantly buy) there.

I recognised these chairs, they were the runners up for the white chairs by the Koi pond - Qui est Paul?
Designer Logs 






The atmosphere during the evening event was great. Vibrant music was on, there was reasonable sized crowd, big enough to be alive but not so much so to feel overcrowded, complementary wine and champagne were available, and to simply put it, it was buzzing.


Then there were the plants and the nursery stand. They had a reasonable selection of nursery exhibitors, not as many as we would have hoped for but good enough to distract plants people even for a bit. The plant stands themselves seemed quite small, which was a shame really.










Crug Farm was there and as you can imagine we spent most of our time in the event in their stand, chatting to Sue and Bleddyn, as well as Chelsea designer Sophie Walker who was there helping them out (and they needed it as their stand were so popular, and that was just the preview evening). And of course perusing their stand as they bought with them so many unusual and unique plant goodies with them as usual.








We had a fantastic time and would recommend it to anyone in the area or nearby looking for ideas and items to spruce up their urban spaces. As this is their debut year and teething problems were to be expected I would personally recommend that perhaps for next year onwards:

To have more plants and nursery stands than what they have now. With garden fairs plants are still the top draw, and will always be even if the event is held in the midst of a city. 

More outdoor exhibits, features, or plant stands would be nice. Space is a premium even in Hampstead Heath and this may not be possible but outdoor activities would greatly complement the indoor ones even if the latter is the main draw.

Spruce up the indoor marquee a bit more with 'greenery' if possible.


Just to add though that extra touches that they have put in to make it convenient for visitors like the shuttle bus from the underground station and the plant creche with options for home delivery of any time item at a later are a big plus. We drove to the event but a majority of Londoners don't bother with a car and making it easy for them to get there and get their purchases home are clever things to get sorted.

Looking forward to next years already!

Mark :-)

17 comments :

  1. Hello Mark and Gaz,

    Well, you certainly look to have had all the fun of the fair!

    Like you, we think that it is good to have events for gardeners which reflect the times and the spaces in which people live these days. Urban plots are getting much smaller and yet there is still so much of interest that one can create in even the smallest of gardens.

    The variety of plants on show looked quite impressive to us. But, the nursery stands did appear quite small for the space available. Perhaps next year this will change?

    Crug Farm Plants have been at the top of their game now for many years and that is a great accolade. We remember visiting them in Wales what seems like a lifetime ago and they have definitely made a big contribution to the introduction of many lesser known plants into more general cultivation. Their stand looked most intriguing.

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    1. We had a great time Jane and Lance, felt more like we attended a party that night rather than a fair. There is a fast growing market for gardening in urban spaces and its good to see fairs like this starting to cater for this market. Hopefully next year there will be more plant nurseries and a bigger marquee too.

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  2. Seems like a nice event! Is it difficult to browse plants when there's only one of each type (as in some of the stand) and they're all crammed together?

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    1. It is Alan but the venue is still on the small side. Yes plants for sale were crammed together due to the limitation of the size on each stand.

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  3. What a wonderful event, newbie problems or not. I'm with Gaz on the old Citroen Van, what fun it would be zooming around the countryside on a plant shopping spree! Of course the first stop would be Crug Farm.

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    1. That Citroen van looks so cool, even more so if on the road Loree. Group nursery trip would be great in that van!

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  4. It looks as a really nice event! I didn´t know designer logs existed, hehehe. Interesting...

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    1. Perhaps time your visit to London next year with this fair Lisa, then you can plant shop and take it home with you later :)

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  5. Looks like a great event! The delivery option is inspired! So, what did you bring home?

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    1. Only three plants Peter, an Illicium, a Schefflera, and a climber Holboellia :)

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  6. What a great way to spend an evening! I'd be thrilled to see an event like this in LA or Orange County. We have access to a few spring garden events and some arboretums offer fall plant sales but the closest equivalent summer offering would be a home and garden show, which are generally dreadful and focused on home services. I'd be ecstatic to have specialty plant growers all under one roof, along with other garden paraphernalia.

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    1. Wouldn't that be nice Kris, to have a summer event there that is garden centric? I suppose we are spoilt for choice here.

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  7. It's great to come back to find your post as sadly I had to miss this event as we've been on holiday. It's good to see a new event with a different take on horticulture, as I'm finding many of the shows are getting too samey. Like you I miss Cottesbrook, but Borde Hill looks like it's set to be that fair's replacement. Will you be going to that one too?

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    1. That's great news Michelle, that Plant Finders Fair is returning via Borde Hill. It's unlikely we'll make it to that one due to its proximity to our July rendezvous but hopefully that'll be held again next year :)

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  8. I love everything in the picture #5, and plants for sale... treasures!!!

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  9. Ok this is a different type of venue. The plants look great. Not sure of the purpose of the designer logs. :) Nice event to attend though.
    Cher Sunray Gardens

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