Selling plants at the big plant shows is very expensive and some specialist nurseries have opted to use plant fairs, often these are held at stately homes or private gardens and can be good fun with none of the distractions found at large shows.
Entry prices are low sometimes free, you will find unusual plants, quite often you are supporting local nurseries while developing your plant knowledge with friendly expert growers.
What can you expect?
We visited a Planthunters Fair held at Abbeywood Gardens to find out. It did help that it was a lovely summer day, we found the venue was easy to find, the staff were very friendly and car parking was right beside the plant fair.
I counted about 16 nurseries all specialists with a wide variety of stock some familiar and some things I had never seen before.
There was a very friendly atmosphere and the stallholders were really engaging with their customers, some were regulars building up a collection but you could find new gardeners looking for advice. Other customers had arrived to pick up ordered stock.
You might not find the massive displays found at flower shows but reasonable trade costs allow the nurseries to sell at lower prices
Prices were reasonable
Perhaps the biggest attraction was the collective plant knowledge.
You can compare varieties often in different sizes
You can find some good information and knowledge
Busy stallholders
A couple of gardening clubs or societies had come by bus and the stallholders were kept busy selling stock.
You can be confident buying from regular stallholders
You may find some bargain prices
Don’t expect the plants to look like garden centre stock
You can buy plants not normally stocked in garden centres
Attractive location
An added attraction was Abbeywood itself we had a nice lunch in an understandably busy cafe and spent quite a while exploring the gardens. The planting was bold combining modern elements with formal designs. The plant varieties were well chosen and particular attention had been paid to foliage colour and texture, overall better than some National trust gardens I have visited.
Visit a Plant fair
Specialist sellers, good quality plants.
Wide range of unusual plants.
Talking directly to the supplier you might get some bargain prices.
Great for a day out most have good catering & gardens to visit.
You may have to get the car out and make a special trip.
It might rain, be prepared.
Most have an admission charge
You might develop a plant collecting habit.
