I feel a real frisson of excitement around flowers, so I went to the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show Press Day, the very first day of the show.
2015 marks 25 years of the flower show, so (horticulturally speaking) it’s the biggest year yet!
I think I took about half a million photographs, at a conservative estimate. It was such a beautiful and hot day (28 degrees) so my shutterbug antics are definitely justified! Shutterchops.
Here are my pictures of the show…
This is the ‘Noble Caledonia Spirit of the Aegean’ garden, designed by Esra Parr Garden Design. It had a real feeling of a Summer holiday garden.
On to the ‘Garden of Paradise – Turkish Tourism Board’.
Influenced by early Turkish Islamic Gardens of the 10th century, it features traditional Islamic elements.
Calm, yet exciting! Theatrical, colourful planting throughout.
Monty Don and Joe Swift were filming for the evening show.
Here is the ‘Vestra Wealth Encore – A Music Lovers Garden’.
It is inspired by a love of classical music, particularly Handel’s Water Music, which was commissioned by King George I and had aptly its debut on the River Thames, on which Hampton Court resides.
The judges were very busy making notes on all of the gardens beside me…
The ‘Squire’s Garden Centres Urban Oasis’ garden was lovely. The idea is to reflect their ethos: a garden can look interesting, beautiful and can be achievable.
A delicious mix of different textures, bright colours, paths and seating, with a meadow in the middle, rather than a green lawn.
There are many stunning gardens on show that help raise awareness of various charities. This is ‘Scotty’s Little Soldiers Garden’:
It has been created to raise awareness of the charity and its work with bereaved military children.
The garden’s theme focuses on the memories of a lost parent, with a striking structure at its centre symbolising the strength and support the charity provides.
The ‘memory tree’ has messages written on yellow ribbons for parents from children and it represents constancy in the garden, just as the loss of a parent is constant in a child’s life.
Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation for Disabled People (QEF) celebrates its 80th birthday in 2015 and the ‘QEF’s A Different Point of View’ garden acknowledges the practical and life-transforming work undertaken by this national charity.
It’s a tranquil space, designed to encourage individuals to take time out to listen and understand what matters to them, as well as seeking creative ways to approach challenges.
It’s somewhere to contemplate and a garden to keep busy in: gardening as a form of therapy.
The ‘Foundations for Growth’ garden embraces dramatic, contrasting planting:
An heuristic garden, it has been designed to inspire and allows visitors to realise their hidden potential.
The ‘Living Landscapes HUG’ garden is particularly eye catching:
Soft, muted greens with popping purple and hazy grasses against a sweeping deep grey wall and an organic-shaped wooden bench. Absolutely stunning!
To inspire those with a small city garden, the ‘Living Landscapes City Twitchers’ garden shows that you can have everything: flowerbeds filled with plants, a lawn area and various seating zones to make the most out of the space.
Circles are used throughout the garden, designed to be perfect for wildlife watching!
This is ‘The Wellbeing of Women Garden’, a charity that is dedicated to improving the health of women and babies:
It is a garden for reflection and conversation. The planting is medicinal and aromatic. And so very inspiring!
On that note, come back tomorrow for part two of the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show Press Day!
