behind the scenes at Southport Flower Show

I was invited by David Jackson, CEO of Southport Flower Show, for a sneak preview behind the scenes to see how the magic is created. After weeks of boxes and unpacking and children and chaos, smelling fresh-turned soil and talking gardens was a glorious change of scenery.

I’m showing you these befores so you can go ‘ooh’ tomorrow when I come back from the first day of the show with the after photos.

This is one of the show gardens – every year they start from scratch, arriving a couple of weeks before the show and creating beauty out of a patch of perfectly ordinary grass. I loved the camaraderie between the gardeners. I had a chance to chat to a few of them and hear their stories – gardening definitely seems to attract characters.

I was planning to show you loads more of the befores, but actually as the town buzzes with pre-show excitement I think I’ll save them and we can compare them with the finished gardens tomorrow, and I’ll tell all about the people behind the designs.

Just a sneaky look, though.

These two are my favourite can-you-tell-what-it-is-yet? photos. You’ll never guess.

More tomorrow. It’s currently pouring with rain but the forecast is good for the weekend and I can’t wait to take in my first Southport Flower Show.