There is a definite post-Tatton buzz about the place this week. Visitor numbers and plant sales are up, which is good. Several people have told me directly that they went to Tatton Show, saw the show garden and decided to visit us as a result. This is even better – it helps me justify to myself spending so much time, energy (and some hard cash ) building a show garden in the first place. Otherwise it would be a vanity project and that would never do.

But (you could feel a ‘but’ coming, couldn’t you?), well two buts.

The first is that I’m still drained from the whole all-consuming physical and mental experience, and don’t have the energy yet for successive enthusiastic conversations about the ideas/how/why/who/what/which ‘celebs’ I met/hugged/kissed etc.

And secondly, I’ve always had a difficult relationship with praise. I do know that to reject proffered praise is just rude, and have learned to say ‘thank you’ quite nicely. But I get myself in a right mental muddle if someone is too complimentary – as some people are wont to, faced with a REAL LIFE RHS GOLD MEDAL WINNER!! Finding precisely the right degree of acceptance, while maintaining one’s self respect seems tricky. Apparently I should by now have the medal certificate blown up, framed and mounted on the tea room wall, have ordered ‘Sue wins Gold!’ t-shirts for all the staff and emblazoned ‘Gold Medal Winning Nursery’ all over my van. Thankfully new van signs were delivered just before the show, sans gold medal text, of course. Such things are not my style.

I may relent and permit a copy of the certificate to be mounted on the tea room wall. I think that’s probably acceptable. But that’s it. I am very proud of it, and will be able to say for evermore that I once won an RHS gold medal for a show garden. But that was three weeks ago and the future isn’t running towards me any slower for that. Laurels cannot be sat upon.

So, here’s the end of Grace – the reality of how show gardening ends for the small-time show gardener. The dancing girls have gone and the lights are cold. The cleaners are sweeping up and the last act is wiping off her make-up and packing her costume. Spot the last of the four lovely Betula nigra hanging out of the back of the trailer and the poor Nissan’s rear wheel arches weighed down with the last of the block paving. It’s all over till 2012.

So, next up is Southport Flower Show – my first proper shot at a floral marquee entry. I’m not too worried about the display – I’ve kept back enough good plants to make the stand look fine. But the nursery is not geared up for floral marquee sales – my plants are mostly in 2L pots, way larger than normal for show sales, so I don’t know how the logistics, stocking and selling will work. It’s only an hour each way though for re-stocking so I’ll just take what I can. I hope I enjoy it – floral marquees are the way to go for me, I think.

On a brighter note I’ve been collecting seeds madly this week – great carrier bags full in some cases – for others just a few in a tiny envelope. I have a detailed mental seed map of the garden – I know exactly what is where and what stage they are at. A few get accidentally dead-headed when I’m not here, but my squeaks of anguish followed by frantic rummaging in the compost bin in previous years have made everyone jumpy about removing seed heads without checking with me first. I sow the tiniest percentage of what I collect, but they feel to me like vital insurance policies against loss and future non-availability. And growing our own seed-raised plants is a key part of what makes us a proper nursery.

Back with pics of the garden in a day or two. It does look great :-)

P.S. I wrote this on the 2nd Aug and didn’t post straight away. It’s now the 6th. I feel brighter already, but thought I’d post this anyway, for the record.

August 2, 2011