Hampton Court Flower Show

My first ever flower show last Saturday was extremely hot, very busy and packed with plants I want.

 Some gardens just annoy me, the planting above was lovely with it's mix of wild flowers, grasses and perennials. Where it looses me is when it adds sculpture (we like) with bits of string hanging down off it (we don't like) which look random. It was called Spirits of the Land. Sometimes concepts can be a bit too clever for themselves, especially when you lack the cultural references of the Japanese designer. The title sounded very Studio Ghibli and while I adore the animations they produce (Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away are favourites) the Shinto representations put together in this concept garden fail to impress me. It lacks something.

 Desolation to Regeneration. I loved the planting in the desolation part of this double garden. The dead look of the grasses, the heat of the lupins, Kangaroo's paws, Heucheras, Eremurus is accompanied by smoke and sound effects and accentuated by the backdrop and rusty flames. Inspired by the Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

 Is it a garden? Slowly over the past few days I have grown to appreciate this garden. I know it looks more like something you'd drive past on the motorway and it certainly feels more like a piece of architectural landscaping than anything else. Yet it works, There is a sense of drama and mystery, it's as if someone has miniaturised and transported mountains, hills and a lake and dropped it in your backyard.

Athanasia.  I absolutely love the planting in this and the garden below. The colours works so well together with the setting, they interest, serenity and tranquillity. The garden invites you in and gives a sense of peace. 

 Less naturalistic perhaps than the garden above, this part of this garden I love. The Hostas, Hydrangea, Hebe and Veronicas(?) Foxgloves accentuate the hard landscaping materials. Diagonally across from this green and white square, the planting was blacks and deep reds and burgundies. And across from this a mix of the whites and the blacks (sadly no photo as there were lots of people standing in front of it). August 1963, I Have a Dream is about integration and equality and how far we have come since Martin Luther King's inspirational speech.

 

Lift and shift. The army wives garden, looked ready to pick up and pack up at a moments notice. Which was the whole point. I'm not a great lover of growing veg but I loved the ideas on display here. I'd probably do this with annuals and perennials.

 The One Show garden. Inpsired by a child's view of the world around them. You're meant to go in, lay down and look up as if you were in a forest. The planting was lovely, I loved the toadstool. It looked like fun. Something missing in other gardens.

Ashes to Ashes. Ash dieback, Dutch Elm disease... I question whether a garden like this can address issues like this. It's a designer's design and doesn't contribute anything to the debate or resolving the issues.