July 2015 – Vergette Gardens

…….well that’s what they say, I’m not sure who ‘they’ are but it seems quite sensible when you think about it. Im not sure that anybody has ever said ‘a journey stats with a single coffee and an almond croissant’ although quite sage advice it’s probably not often given. Yet that my lovely reader is exactly how this journey started.

‘So where are you off to?’ I hear you say. Well actually Japan (or as I write this blog post), not actually Japan. This particular pastry fuelled journey is to The World Cup of Gardening in Nagasaki.

Back in May over croissants and coffee, sheltering from the rain in the press tent at Malvern Show I was chatting with Jonathan of Ginger Horticulture as you do and the subject of The Japan Garden and Flower Show (also known as the Gardening World Cup) came up. In a moment of Almond fuelled madness I thought I might just go for that.

To cut a very long story short that’s exactly what I did. A few weeks later Design Proposals, Construction Drawings and Planting Plans were all flying through the ether via file sharing sites from our office to Japan. Ten days after that a PDF of the chosen designers was whinging its way back to Worcestershire and there was my name.

I’m surprised I didn’t sustain an air-punch RSI I was so excited. What makes it somewhat sweeter is after everything in the press about women designers not taking part in Garden Design Shows this one is. I may be the only one from England this year, but it’s a start.

Now it’s a lot easier and cheaper to send files to Japan than it is to send a Garden Designer. As a business we have to all those sexy things like corporation tax, vat and wages to pay which this year doesn’t leave much in the – sending designers abroad fund. I’ve looked at the options of a Top Gear style Road Trip but to be honest, although I love my Shogun I’m not sure it’ll make it. Next came the terrific notion of corporate sponsorship, well we though it was terrific, the sponsors less so.

So after much thought and everybody telling us we should look at Crowdfunding, guess what, that’s what we’re going to do.

If you think you can help by making a donation, that would be amazing, but getting my story out there to help me get to Japan would be pretty amazing too. The link is below if you feel like sharing……….. perhaps this particular part of the journey will actually start with a single click.

http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/a-place-for-nature-and-nurture

Thank you