Did you hear about the new BBC series “Great British Garden Revival”? Those of us in the garden businesses need to keep each other "cheered up" as we await spring, and a chance for the cash flow to start flowing our way again. So it's off to Britain where everyone in the business of gardening is talking about it! We will have to wait to see what the target audience "the public" thinks later.
The Guardian reports that “A new gardening TV show hit our screens last night, but what did Twitter make of it?” To The Internet! The Telegraph's Ed Cumming declared, “The series is hardly revolutionary, but there was plenty of sensible advice and lovely shots”. Another Twitter user says, “So enjoyed half of #gardenrevival tonight. It was marred by bad practice and ill conceived dumbing down as are most gardening programmes.” Everyone has an opinion and is willing to share it. If your interested you can follow the chatter on Twitter at #gardenrevival.
It seems that even in Britain gardening is less popular than it was in the past. That's why the series is called "The Great British Garden Revival". According to The BBC, "more and more front and back gardens are paved over - for development, for parking spaces, or because families don’t have the time or inclination to manage these spaces." The first show in the series dealt with "Wildflowers" and "Front Gardens". The wildflower segment seems to have helped "Seedball", a company that promotes, "a simple way to create beautiful native wildflower gardens & help wildlife too." Apparently "98 per cent of wild flower meadows in Britain have been lost". The next segment "Front Gardens", tells us that in" the past, our front gardens were highly valued and we used them to show off our gardening prowess, but sadly over time, front gardens have been paved over for parking and turned into a no-man’s land between the street and front door." Good luck!
As one person on Twitter expressed, “Thanks all for horti tweets this eve, had trouble keeping up w/ them all! At least #gardenrevival has got us all fired up again”. That's what I see as the greatest benefit of the series. It keeps those of us in the trades excited and talking during the off season. Really, I don't think a garden revival is in the cards for Britain, or here for that matter. There are just too many other things for people to do with their time and money. However, if those of us in the trades can reach the enthusiastic few through our passion and social media, it can make a difference. It should be enough to keep those of us still in business, in business. Seeing that passion expressed did put a bounce in my step this cold, bleak morning. As for TV shows about gardening? Not so sure, but we can always go to The Internet to find out.