Society wins silver medal at Chelsea Flower Show

30 May 2006

Gardening enthusiasts at the 2006 RHS Chelsea Flower Show were keen to learn how some microbes can harm their garden plants. The Society for General Microbiology’s exhibit, ‘Plants and microbes – a deadly duel’, also impressed the judges, who awarded it a silver medal in the Lindley Range.

In the garden there is an unseen and ongoing battle between plants and microbes such as fungi, bacteria and viruses. Disease-causing microbes are always in the environment, ready to attack garden plants when the opportunity arises. Fine powdery residues, grey furry coatings, strange growths and slimy exudates are signs of microbial attack.

SGM staff designed, put-together and manned the display for the Lifelong Learning section in the Great Pavilion. The backdrop explained various aspects of microbial infections in garden plants, including information on how microbes attack plants, how diseases spread, how the plants protect themselves from infection and how gardeners can help in the fight for healthy plants.

The display also included a wide range of shrubs, perennials, annuals, herbs and fruit bushes set out in attractive containers in a courtyard scene, which were all labelled with their susceptibility to diseases caused by bacteria, viruses and fungi.

A handout giving more detailed information about plant pathogens was available for interested visitors to take away.

“I am very pleased with the interest that the exhibit received from the public," said Janet Hurst, Deputy Executive Secretary for the Society. “We are also proud to have been awarded a silver medal.”

Over the six days of the show, the stand was viewed by many thousands of interested gardeners, including members of the Royal Family!

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