Leeds Flower Show 2011 Review
Posted on September 21, 2011 by Head Gardener
Leeds Flower, Vegetable and Craft Show 2011.
Leeds Flower, Vegetable & Craft Show 2011 was held on Saturday 6th /Sunday 7th August at The Grammar School at Leeds. Many colourful photographs on our website leedshs.org.uk taken by our photographer Robert McLoughlin give some indication of the variety of the entries. Three large halls were full of display entries including vegetables of magnificent quality – grown by local amateurs, plants & flowers, crafts, photography and art. A large illustrated display stand from Leeds & District Gardeners Federation Allotments packed with informative slides on how to start ‘growing your own’ attracted a lot of interest. Radio Leeds Gardener Joe Maiden was at the Show both days. He encourages Class 500 which is an open display for groups or societies displaying breathtaking produce grown in our own Yorkshire earth.
The plants and flowers section was colourful, with terrific variety and staging. The West Yorkshire Fuchsia Society and the Yorkshire Rosarians held their annual Show within our Show – something well worth seeing. Our President David Lister, who is an expert rose grower, was on hand to answer any questions. If you have ever thought about trying your hand at floral art – have a look at the website photographs – we had floral art demonstrations on each day and lots of entries in these classes with ‘polite’ judges comments for the passing public to read and discuss – out of earshot of the poor exhibitor!
The Northern Fruit Society showed perfect examples of items hard to believe were grown in our ever changing climate. Every berry- soft fruit etc, you will have heard about were on display – backed up by a talk from Hilary Dodson on ‘Growing Fruit’ and Chris Cole from Heirloom Tomatoes advising how to go about growing tomatoes.
For those who are not so enthusiastic about flower and vegetable growing there is a hall of craft work, art, and photography. Demonstrations on spinning wool from raw fleece on ancient and modern wheels and frames were mind blowing, with finished articles produced from the spun and dyed wool to admire.. The Alwoodley quilters were demonstrating their skills along with embroidery, lace makers, jewellery and woodcraft work.. The art section attracted entries in oils, acrylic, water colours and pastels. The children’s section had so many handwriting and pencil drawing entries and it must have been a difficult decision to choose a winner. The edible monsters get weirder. If you are keen on photography – why not have a look at the schedule for 2012 (due out in early Spring) listing 5 classes to see what takes your fancy.
The beekeepers were there with live bees and jars of light, medium, dark and soft set honey along with dry and sweet mead and honey cakes . The stalls were manned by experts keen and ready to answer any questions. Maybe home baking is your thing – there were plenty of classes to choose from including, bread, scones, pies, sponge and fruit cakes, not forgetting homemade jams, marmalade and lemon curd. Mustn’t forget the wine and beer section for the potential brewers amongst you – it was all there white or red wine – sweet or dry. Beers, larger and stout. Adult and children’s entries of a homemade scarecrow were so lifelike you could walk past them thinking they were real –in fact one of the scarecrows looked like she had sampled the odd glass. Inside and outside were lots of different Traders selling plants, garden accessories, and jewellery for the ladies. Don’t go away without a Dales ice cream !
Feeling like a sit down? – over to the refectory for a choice of cooked breakfast for the early attendees, hot lunches, salads, deserts, or just tea or coffee – all at reasonable prices – accompanied by a Brass Band on each day to tap your feet to. We are 90% undercover so who cares if it rains!.
Date for your diary – Leeds Flower Show 2012 Saturday 4th /Sunday 5th August at The Grammar School Leeds. Hope to see you there.
Pat Dixon.
Filed Under: General
