He was born on January 30^th 1913, at Horwood House in Buckinghamshire, where his father was the head gardener. Holding his father in the greatest esteem, young Percys ambition was to become a great horticulturalist.

Percy proclaimed his greatest influences to be his father, Charles Cook, (his head gardener at Windsor and later his father in law) and John Maxwell, Of Derby.

During 1931, Percy began his career at the Royal gardens at Windsor Castle, living in the bothy with 20 other gardeners and ex-servicemen, making £1.00 per week.

After he left school he spent four years working for his father at the same Horwood House. Later Percy travelled to the City of Leeds Parks Department and passed the Royal Horticultural society’s General exam.  This qualification led to his first trusted positions, at Derby Parks Department, where he progressed through the ranks to Assistant Parks Superintendent. He soon passed the NDH (National Diploma in Horticulture) and became a lecturer at Derby Technical College.  He then progressed to become the youngest Parks superintendent at just 32, with a staff of 35. He remained in this post at Shrewsbury until 1974

Percy Throwers marriage to Connie Cook took place at Sandringham on 9^th September 1939, where he was working for Queen Mary. The queen gave them a gift of a set of Burslem china dishes to mark the occasion. The couple had three daughters, Margaret, Susan and Ann.

The Dig For Victory campaign during the second world war was a great platform for Percy’s celebrity status, with a tour of the country and a suddenly wide audience, he encouraged vegetable growing and gardening.

The Midland regional radio show ‘Beyond the Back Door’ gave him a regular slot in which to offer advice and tips, and his fan base grew. He went on to be involved in television work after 1951 such as ‘Picture Page’, ‘Country Calender’, ‘Out and About’ – which became ‘Gardeners World’ and this was the program he remained as a regular presenter for until 1976.

Many people remember him best for his role on ‘Blue Peter’. This role was special, as it enabled him to influence a whole new generation and established his fame for many years to come.

Percy went on to form the first established garden centre in England, which is still in business today.

Percy died aged 75 after a long and successful career, and after achieving his boyhood dreams. His influence and teaching live on in the gardening celebrities, shops and programs all around the world today.

The cheeky little chappies have been unpopular in recent years, with snobbery and stricter rules in garden, horticulture and flower shows being blamed for their fall from grace. Seen as tacky and distracting, gnomes have suffered a fall in sales over the past few decades.
The RHS Chelsea Flower show controversially banned gnomes from its gardens, saying they were not legitimately horticultural. Critics claim that it is because organisers associated gnomes with working class or lower income gardens.

There are reportedly 25 million gnomes currently inhabiting gardens in Germany, and it is in Gräfenroda, in Thuringia, Germany, where the first ceramic garden ornaments were made by Phillip Griebel. The gnomes were based upon a myth that they would eagerly help out in the garden at night. From the eighteenth century other companies started producing their own versions, and gradually garden gnomes spread all over the globe. Most German producers went out of business during world war II and now there are only the original Griebel descendents, with other manufacturers being located in Poland or China.

In 1847 Sir Charles Isham introduced garden gnomes to England when he brought twenty one gnomes back from Germany for use in his garden at Lamport hall, in Northamptonshire. Lampy is well into his hundreds and enjoys a place on display now in the hall itself where he is insured for around a million pounds.

The Garden Gnome Liberation Front or “Front de Liberation des Nains de Jardins” are both popular groups, with members stealing ill kept gnomes or gnomes in smaller gardens, and freeing them to national parks or gnome sanctuaries!

Many gnomes are the victims of gnoming, otherwise known as theft. This has become a more common crime, with the prank of taking a gnome on holiday and returning it with tourist photographs featuring in many T.V. shows and films. This led to the travel agent Travelocity running an advertising campaign featuring their own gnome in various locations.

Most gnomes nowadays are plastic, resin or pot, (made with runny clay poured into a mould, allowed to set a little, then poured out to leave a hollow interior). They come in all colours and designs and are fitted with different functions, such as motion-detecting whistling or nodding heads or flashing lights. Many feature an inbuilt garden lamp. Gnomes can be a perfect addition to any garden, and are a gardener’s best friend.

What are your thoughts on garden gnomes?

She was initially spotted working there, and asked to make a short program on how to build a pond for the BBC, for the meridian series ‘Grass Roots’.
Charlies fame came in 1997, when she joined the BBC’s ‘Ground Force’ and became the female face of British gardening. She was popular not only because of her ample gardening talent, but because of her ample bosom. Her unfettered female form became a highlight of the show for many male admirers. Charlie says she just doesn’t feel comfortable doing heavy physical work in a bra and doesn’t know what the fuss is about. She quickly became known as a sex symbol and went on to be known as ‘Horticultural Viagra’. In the year 2000 she outsold supermodel Caprice with her calendar sales!

Charlies gardening skills didn’t go unnoticed, and she went on to have a fantastic career as a celebrity gardener. She presented programs ‘The Joy Of Gardening’, ‘Charlie’s Garden Army’, slots on the ‘Chelsea Flower Show’, and even bridged the ocean to present a gardening slot on American TV’s ‘The Early Show’ on CBS.
Her publication for Ground Force: ‘Water Garden Workbook’ and ‘Container Gardening’ sold well. Later in 2000 she enjoyed similar success with ‘Enjoy Your Garden’.
The other side to her publishing career was a weekly column in the Mail on Sunday, which ran until January 2008.

As a celebrity not all television work has been strictly gardening based, she has appeared in reality shows such as channel 4’s ‘The Games’ and BBC’s ‘Celebrity Masterchef’. She starred in ITV Meridians ‘River Walks’. As president of the Television and Radio Industries Club (TRIC) from 2003 to 2004 Charlie had the opportunity to present their annual awards ceremonies.

Charlie’s accolades don’t stop there, with titles including Butterkist Popcorns ‘Best Giggler of 1999’ and in the same year was voted the public’s top choice for fantasy neighbour of the year and hottest new talent. She went on to win the Redhead of the Year Award in 2000.

Charlie has enjoyed a great career and is now enjoying being out of the spotlight and lives simply in her Romsey home.

BBC Gardeners world Live – Birmingham NEC

Alan Titchmarsh and a host of celebrities will be on hand at this years BBC extravaganza, with floristry master classes, floral displays, a plant avenue and also a plant swap where you can exchange your extra plants with others and get a chance to meet the Gardeners world team. For those who are more of a kitchen gardener, there are edible patches, and the BBC Good Food Show Summer edition to make the taste buds tingle!
You can find more information at www.bbcgardenersworldlive.com

The show runs from June 15th until June 19th.

Taunton Flower Show

Listed as ‘The best in the west’ by organizers, this flower show incorporates a large competition with classes showing winemaking, photography, floral art floristry, fruit, vegetables and flowers as well as home crafts. There is also an under 17’s class and a master gardener class. Another competition sees gardens created with accomplished designers in just two hours. More than 50 trophies are awarded on the day and this should be an entertaining day out for everyone. The show also includes food halls and a floral marquee, as well as traders stalls of all kinds.

The show runs from August 5th to August 6th 2011.

Southport Flower Show

Southports flower show is the largest independent flower show in the country. It also has the largest amateur grower competition in the country, anyone can enter and there are lots of categories to choose from. There is a central grand flower marquee , housing only the very best horticulturalists, and the very best exhibits. The public are encouraged to buy directly from theses growers and the opportunity will be there. Many different societies and clubs will be attending, and looking for new members or simply the chance to give advice.

You can get more information about this show at www.southportflowershow.co.uk

The show runs August 18th until august 21st.

TV appearances don’t stop at gardening, Diarmuid has also starred in celebrity shows Strictly Come Dancing, Only Fools on Horses and a Christmas special Come Dine With Me in 2010. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show has been the main stage for his very public fight against the establishment, a competition he has described as ‘vicious’ – although he does return every year and continues to win prizes!

Rivalry with fellow designer Andy Sturgeon became front page news when Diarmuid wrote a letter to Cancer Research UK, asking them to sack Sturgeon as their representative, thus leaving sturgeon short on funding.  This was only part of a string of arguments between the pair, which included accusations of plagiarism against Sturgeon in 2006 over a capsule design for a pavillion and  Gavin allegedly poaching staff from Sturgeons team.

Afurther public spat with Bunny Guiness, another established Chelsea figure, saw her branded as ‘two faced, snobbish, elitist and rude’.
The organisers called Gavin a ‘complete nightmare’ when he created a garden full of lottery balls in 2004, and it went over budget. All this controversy hasn’t stopped Diarmuid being popular at the show, and he is a charismatic and current designer that the public love.  He has won one bronze and two silver gilt medals.

He had a book published ‘Off to Chelsea with Diarmuid’ (by Valerie Duffy, Jackie Ball, Nicki Mathews, George Dunnington, Diarmuid Gavin). Diarmuids awards come in droves – he has won an RDS Gold award in 1991 and 1993, and he is a patron of Southport Flower Show.

His autobiography most recently, ‘How The Boy Next Door Turned Out – An Autobiography’ and before that books including: ‘Planet Patio’, ‘Outer Spaces’ ‘Diarmuid Gavins Big Ideas’ and ‘Design Your Garden: 10 Steps to Design Revolution in your Garden’, have made his career in writing bestselling. This is only helped by his collaboration with other well known figures such as ‘Planting’ and ‘Outdoors’, both with Terence Conran, ‘Gardens Through Time: 200 Years of the English garden’ was with Jane Owen. Diarmuid was born and bred in Ireland and is married to Justine Keane, with whom he has one daughter, Eppie, born in 2004, He lives happily in Dublin.

There are many ways to spend a day off, but why not make the most of the flower and garden shows this year? Here are just a few planned for 2011:

The 2011 Cornwall Spring Flower Show

This year’s show promises to be great, highlighting why Cornwall is known for its beautiful gardens. This years show garden competition will feature entries from the Eden Project and The Lost Gardens of Heligan, as well as many other entries. There will be stalls and talks and demonstrations throughout the day. Competition will also be fierce in the individual flower classes, with categories including rhododendrons, daffodils and ornamental shrubs.

We love the Eden project – formerly a disused clay mine, now one of the world’s largest greenhouses with stunning exotic plants.

The show will run from April 2nd to April 3rd.

Harrogate Spring Flower Show

The show will feature beautiful flower halls, flower arranging, display gardens, cooking demonstrations and educational ‘working with nature’ seminars, as well as a children’s discovery zone. Local food stalls and garden accessories / plants stands should mean there’s something for everyone. A photography competition will be held and will be accepting entries in two categories, ‘encouraging nature’ and ‘all seasons’. This year will be a centenary celebration for the North of England Horticultural Society. In recognition of this there will be a special garden designed by the society unveiled at the show.

The show will run from April 14th to April 17th. There will also be a Harrogate Autumn Flower Show, held later in the year.

Finally, the biggie of the year…

The 2011 RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Widely recognised as the largest flower show in the world, Chelsea Flower Show will be a star attraction this year.
New artisan gardens will feature, to add a new aspect to the competitive gardens of last year. Many gardens will be created for the show and Bunny Guinness will be among the designers. Each garden promises to be innovative and features will include a toilet and a post box. You can find more information about the competitions at www.rhs.org.uk

The show runs May 24th until May 28th.

It is so serious that the Food Standards Agency have issued warnings to novice foragers as there has been numerous cases of stomach upsets for people that have little knowledge as to whether mushrooms are edible or of the more sinister, poisonous type.   The City of London Corporation is so concerned about the rise in the foraging for food phenomena that it has enforced ancient bylaws to reduce the amount of foraging taking place in Epping Forest.  Foraging is as old as the hills, but the glamour that recent TV chefs have contributed to the practice could actually be harming the survival of rare fungi but more importantly harming foragers and their families too.  You definitely need to know what you are doing.

There is new research from Europe that suggests that it is Wi Fi connections and the human need for access to communication that is affecting our trees in urban areas.  This however is not true for the forests.  Here in the UK, the grandest of trees the English Oak is suffering from nature itself due to new bacteria never before seen in tree science.  Astonishingly however, this year it has been noted that there has been an abundance of acorns – nature is very clever ‘from little acorns oak trees grow’ – survival of the species certainly is remarkable.

The healthiest of people in Europe are those that have had an allotment for many years showing less time spent at the doctors and more time tending their produce. The research concludes that gardening is great for everyone but particularly beneficial to people over the age of 60 years. We totally agree that gardening, growing your own and the outdoor life has many benefits in terms of enjoyment, health and wellbeing. The government could reinitiate the allotment trend by allowing some of the waste ground to be reclaimed for community enjoyment. This is a great measure of wellbeing!

Here at flower-shows we have been following the plight of the bees in the UK and feel extremely pleased that increases in numbers are finally being evidenced.  There is a further scheme that has been set up too.  Over 400 bee keeper trainers are being accredited to form an information and teaching base for people new to bee keeping and hope to share their knowledge at this important time, as winter approaches, to ensure successful survival of the bee colonies ready for next year.

What a positive!  Well done to the BBKA for initiating the fantastic sponsor a beehive scheme.