First ever RHS urban gardening show features 24-Hour Party Planting

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is set to celebrate the growing interest in indoor gardening at the RHS Urban Show.

Is gardening the new rock ‘n roll?

If you love horticulture as much as you love pop culture, then an installation at an urban gardening show coming to Manchester next month could be the equivalent of the Sex Pistols’ infamous gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976.

The Royal Horticultural Society’s first large scale indoor show explores the cutting-edge of modern urban gardening, from a seven-garden vision for a greener city to vertical structures for awkward urban spaces and the secret to growing happy houseplants.

24-Hour Party Planting

Amanda Grimes’ two-part installation at the show called Pop Culture Planting: Punk Rockery, the New Wave and 24-Hour Party Planting shows a design at the time of planting, one year on and two years on.

Amanda wants to give new and inexperienced gardeners the confidence and inspiration to just “go for it” by showing them what they can expect as a garden develops naturally over time – even with poor soil or rubble.

She says the installation is named “in honour of all that creativity which was, and still is, uniquely Mancunian”.

“Punk Rockery hits Manchester in the same way the Sex Pistols did in June 1976, though possibly with less swearing and a bigger audience,” she said.

“That now-legendary gig was the spark that lit the touch paper of the whole Manchester New Wave music scene which included the Buzzcocks, Joy Division/New Order, The Fall, Magazine, The Smiths and Factory Records, and went on to inspire so many more.

“24-Hour Party Planting is a celebration of Manchester’s thriving nightlife, restaurant and entertainment scene. It references the Happy Mondays’ track of the same name and with it the hedonistic days of the Hacienda. It traces that legacy through to 2024 and the incredibly diverse, vibrant and endlessly creative energy of the Gay Village, Northern Quarter, Salford and beyond.”

Other exhibits include RHS City Spaces: Cloudscape by Manchester cloud gardener Jason Williams. He wants retailers, local authorities and developers to rethink the ways in which they interact with communities with a vision of how to make our towns and cities greener.

Designed through a collaborative process involving students from Manchester Metropolitan University’s Rise programme and Notcutts Garden Centre, the exhibit brings together four balconies each facing north, south, east and west with a maximum budget of £500, a north-facing shaded rented patio, an urban farm and a communal garden.

Jason says RHS City Spaces: Cloudscape addresses different residents’ needs, microclimates and pay brackets.

Bringing a city together

“The concept as a whole is an ambitious blueprint of how we can bring a city together. These are not show gardens, they are learning exhibits designed to teach residents, local authorities, retail and developers how we can all improve to make our towns and cities greener.”

Four-time RHS Chelsea Flower Show medal-winners GrowTropicals will reveal the secret to which houseplants are best suited to your home’s unique environment.

Their exhibit featuring dozens of plants, from the rare to the exotic, will be grouped together into three structures featuring the best shade-loving plants for north-facing rooms, thirstier varieties ideal for humid sports or sun-worshippers which love sunny windowsills.

Growing in awkward urban spaces

The RHS Urban Show, sponsored by Mad About Land, also debuts “content cubes” for gardeners with small spaces, including RHS Flower Show Tatton Park 2023’s People’s Choice and gold medal-winner Conal McGuire’s Urban Shade which uuses modular ‘grow frames’ offering a creative, versatile and eco-friendly solution for growing in awkward urban spaces which can be reconfigured in different ways.

A programme of talks will cover subjects from cut flowers to juggling plant life with work and family life. A host of shopping opportunities will be on offer, from a variety of indoor and outdoor plants suitable for urban growers to a new clothing range by MAD, as well as pots and macramé.

Free tours

RHS-run workshops including how to make your own terrariums will also take place, while free guided tours of Mayfield Park will also be available for guests to hear from designers and architects about the regeneration of the area.

“Urban gardening is diverse and dynamic and the inaugural RHS Urban Show is an exciting opportunity to explore the important role gardening plays in greening up cities,” said RHS Urban Show manager Lex Falleyn.

“We’ve chosen to work with a wide range of gardeners, from award-winning designers to community groups to enthusiasts who juggle gardening with day-to-day life. We hope this will bring a balance of relevant yet realistic advice to get people growing.”

Buy tickets

RHS Urban Show takes place 18-21 April at Depot Mayfield, 11 Baring Street, Manchester, M1 2PY

Tickets from £16 (plus admin fee).

Tickets can be purchased here