The nation's flowerbeds have been judged and now the dedicated army of green-fingered volunteers behind the spectacular displays that make Britain in Bloom the country's best-loved gardening competition can only sit and wait until the verdict is in.
The team of RHS judges have toured over 5,000 acres of public green space in 70 locations selected from nearly 1000 original entries for the UK finals of Britain in Bloom, Europe's biggest community gardening campaign. During their months of primping and preening to get every blade of grass to a peak of perfection, the Bloom volunteers have spent over 150,000 hours of their time, and planted an amazing two million plants, trees and bulbs.
As if that wasn't nail-biting enough, this year six towns are competing for the title of Champion of Champions – the ultimate Britain in Bloom award. All the results are announced at a special awards ceremony in September.
If you're feeling inspired by such feats of horticultural perfection, there's still plenty of late summer colour around to turn your own front garden into a Bloom-style extravaganza, from coleus and petunias to dahlias, cannas and crocosmias. Come on over to our garden centre here in Chorley and we'll help you make yours a prize-winning display!