Preparation For The Melbourne International Flower And Garden Show

I find competitions fun, and you’ve got nothing to lose. So, I entered the competition that the London College of Garden Design put on for the Border Gardens category.

So what is a Border Garden?  In layman’s terms, this means a planting design for a small space garden. With the increase of units and apartments, many of us don’t have large backyards as we used to, BUT we still want to have a garden in some form.

The best thing about entering these types of competitions is that sometimes you get feedback that helps you grow professionally and see people’s different insights. In the competitions I’ve entered, I’ve received great feedback that allowed me to grow and learn, which is essential.

Twelve of us were lucky enough to be selected, which allowed us to have our border designs at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show (MIFGS).

Of course, I didn’t expect to get in, but I’m very grateful I got selected.  After all, you never know what the opportunity will lead to in the long run! 

We were all given a brief emphasising plant knowledge and curation for a 2.4m x 2.4m garden space. 

What happens once you’re in? There’s a lot of prep! It took about a couple of weeks to organise and research from plant sourcing, problem-solving, and editing the plans until you are happy with it!

Sourcing the right plants and at the correct sizing is always an impossible task, but I managed to get hold of a few good-sized specimens, which is essential from a display/impact perspective for the show.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t call on favours which is how the Show works internally, from what I’ve gathered! 

Anyway, I sourced what I could and, luckily enough, had some large specimens at home – so I used some of my not-so-little babies!

I did a mock-up of the design a few weeks before the show to ensure I had all bases covered.  The mock-up was especially useful as it allowed me to finesse the design and the brief.

I loved the collaboration with my suppliers for the air plants especially.  That was a fun exercise, and I loved that they were able to provide the perfect ones to enhance the display!

The metal horse was miraculously perfect and what I had in mind, so I was thrilled with the supplier I sourced it from. The downside was being informed very late to preparation for the garden; otherwise, I would have been growing the plants a lot longer to get them going a little more.

This part might have let me down during the judging process and the fact that the backup plants I ordered didn’t arrive, given that there were a few mishaps during transportation to the show, which broke some plants a little!

Regarding the actual implementation, we had two days before the show to put our garden border together. So, I spent nearly 24 hours over two days getting it ready.

It was a team effort, as I was fortunate enough to get a colleague’s support with transporting the plants and installing some at the show. Still, most support came from immediate family, including my lovely hubby!

The hours were pretty long, so physically, I wasn’t used to it and had a bad knee, so that was pretty brutal.  So, I may officially need a knee replacement soon, LOL!

I loved discovering the incidental benefits to the garden, which included the visiting butterflies and bees flitting about amongst the plants. Of course, I didn’t design it with that in mind for this garden, but it’s one beneficial impact I can’t ignore.

I’m quite grateful that my existing clients have been quite supportive of that and they have allowed me to prioritise commitments for the Show garden over theirs.  That’s been so immensely helpful in preparing for it, as there is a lot to do!

If you’ve ever considered a competition but have been too nervous to do so, give it a try, you never know what might happen.

Here’s a further writeup on my experience at MIFGS!

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