RHS Cardiff 2018 – fun and daffodils

Over the years, I’ve been to most of the RHS shows but RHS Cardiff had always eluded me. It’s only a short hop from the Cotswolds so this year I decided to pay a visit.

The location is convenient: a short walk from the train station in the heart of the city and with the lovely backdrop of the castle. It was strange though visiting a flower show in the park I used to use as a shortcut through to lectures at the university.

It was obvious from the start that RHS Cardiff has a sense of fun with giant flowers and gardening tools.

This year, there is also a strong green element not least in the three Regeneration Gardens that have recycling at their heart. The designers are recent landscape architecture graduates.

The Reimagined Past by Pam Creed reused old Victorian materials in a homage to William Robinson, who popularised the idea of ‘wild gardening’.

I liked this garden, which was awarded a silver medal by the RHS judges. There was some nice planting.

The water feature was a simple idea to copy.

And there was attention to detail.

The Urban Regeneration Garden by Millie Souter got a well-deserved gold medal.

There was something really appealing about the planting against the harshness of old water tanks.

They certainly set off the plants.

The euphorbia was also a welcome touch of colour on an overcast day.

The third Regeneration Garden was inspired by the childhood of its designer Shin Myungja and used old bath tubs as dining furniture. It got a bronze medal.

The ranunculus were popular.

Rather aptly given the wet reputation of Cardiff – it rained every day for six weeks when I first moved there – there was a lot of water at the show though, thankfully, not from the skies.

The other strong theme was bringing growing into everyday life. The National Botanic Garden of Wales had a kitchen with a difference.

Green City showed some novel planting ideas

While Petra Kodurand and Josef Lamburn from Bridgend College gave ideas for a wildlife friendly front garden.

RHS Cardiff is much smaller than many of the other shows and the budgets are obviously more limited.

There are fewer show gardens although most of the nurseries on outside pitches also had small garden displays, a feature that is often seen in the marquees.

There are two floral marquees and a lot that caught my eye.

Dibleys are the Master Grower for RHS Cardiff and a display of their streptocarpus and begonias had the story of the nursery woven through.

The British florists were there in force although, unfortunately, the promised British Flower Bus has been delayed and will now launch at RHS Chelsea.

But there are still plenty of plants to see and, being Wales, naturally there were lots of daffodils.

And this one made me smile.

• RHS Cardiff 2018 is held in Bute Park, Cardiff Castle, from April 13-15. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the website.