Like kids in a sweet shop…

Claire has sent in 3 quick updates to her Anniversary Show Garden blogging. Here's the first and the rest will follow over the next couple of days...

Starting a planting plan is like collecting together a really nice set of friends for a lengthy chat or maybe even a dinner party. WE have our favourite people, but there are other things that need consideration. Who will sit best next door to another? How can we get interesting conversations going? A large character may not be best next to a delicate soul, but would this combination be an unusual one which could work?

And so it goes on.

But what makes it even harder, is that Alex has his preferred plant friends, as does Jim and as do I. Our palettes say as much about where we work and how we work as our individual styles. Yet again, we were faced with the design team challenge – could we combine all of our loves (and indeed, dislikes) into one cohesive planting list?

I made a list and trundled up to see Alex. He had also made a list. Some mutual friends were kept immediately, others were sent packing with their tails between their legs. An hour of ticks and strikes and the list was a little shorter, but nowhere near the neat and tidy planting scheme our modern and conceptual design demanded.

A telephone conference to Jim and more were added and discarded. A pattern was emerging and after another ruthless cull, we were all happy with the way the scheme was progressing.

But it is all well and good having a wish list – it is a completely different matter which will be wanting to do their thang like well behaved school children at the time of the show.

And with a cold winter on the cards, how would our selection fare?