Small tree exhibits turn into big winners

Derbyshire Bonsai, from Chesterfield, and North of England Bonsai, from Baldersby, near Thirsk, were among the winners of Large Gold certificates for their exhibits – along with the National Farmers Union, Chrysanthemums Direct of Knutsford, Cheshire, Sue Proctor Plants of Clayton West, near Huddersfield, Devine Nurseries of Hollym, near Withernsea, and Garside Cacti of Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

Derbyshire Bonsai went on to pick up the cup for best in show.

The company was launched 10 years ago by two established bonsai growers, Dave Nicholson and Steve Peach, and exhibits at all the big flower shows, including Chelsea, inbetween selling 3,000 trees a year – from £3 saplings to specimens 20 or 30 years old which are worth many thousands of pounds.

Mr Nicholson said the commonest mistake amateur bonsai keepers made was to think their trees could survive entirely indoors.

“There is no such thing as an indoor tree,” he added.

Specially commended in a small outdoor competition for Chelsea-style garden installations was Wood Landscapes of Bradford, which won a Gold Certificate for a pine garden including a bench cut from a 300-year-old Mongolian water trough supplied by sponsors Natural Stone of Seacroft, Leeds.

Graham Ward, the chief executive of the Stockbridge Technology Centre, a plant growers’ research centre near Selby, was at the show to promote a free video diary of farming, aimed at schools. It will follow work at Stockbridge and elsewhere, covering livestock farming, arable, horticulture and wildlife. More details are available at www.agriculture-4-u.co.uk/

The NFU produce stand, always a colourful show, is this year focused on Yorkshire as the “potato capital” of England.

The Green Factory, an interactive exhibition highlighting the role plants play on our planet, will continue throughout the show’s three days.