Our coverage of this year's edition of Hampton Court Flower Show continues with a look at the show gardens.
Showing posts with label Hampton Court. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hampton Court. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 06, 2016
Tuesday, July 05, 2016
RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2016 - Floral Marquee
The 2016 edition of the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show opens today. Set in the sprawling grounds of Hampton Court Palace, it is the biggest flower show in the world with its many features and opportunities for shopping: food, sundries, and of course plants.
Wednesday, July 01, 2015
Hampton Court Show Gardens 2015
Time to have a wander through the show gardens at Hampton Court. With the show having its 25th anniversary this year we were expecting a high standard of show garden.
The gardens were mixed in with the trade displays a lot more this year. Whilst I can understand the thoughts behind this it made finding the gardens a little trickier. The day was extremely bright and the contrast levels have impacted on the photos.
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| Living Landscapes: Healing Urban Garden |
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
RHS Hampton Court Flower Show Celebrates 25 Years
This year marks the 25th year anniversary of the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show. And this year, much like in previous years the show was grand as ever! It is the largest annual flower show in the world and set in the sprawling grounds of Hampton Court Palace, there are so many things to see and so much to do that it is not unheard of that a full days visit is not enough to see everything. And with the summer heat currently hitting most parts of the UK, the temptation to just be there, have plenty of pauses, soak in the festive ambience, and just enjoy being there is very high!
We had a fabulous time yesterday, seeing as many of the attractions as we could, catching up with familiar faces and meeting new ones, lots of drink and nibbles, and culminating it by witnessing a grand fireworks display that ended the evening.
Here's a little preview of some of the things saw yesterday:
More on the show gardens and scenes inside the floral marquee to follow soon!
Mark :-)
We had a fabulous time yesterday, seeing as many of the attractions as we could, catching up with familiar faces and meeting new ones, lots of drink and nibbles, and culminating it by witnessing a grand fireworks display that ended the evening.
Here's a little preview of some of the things saw yesterday:
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| Lots of show gardens of course (blues, greys, and white are the common theme this year) |
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| Conceptual.... |
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| Peek and you will be rewarded |
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| Only one had a 50's hairdo. One had a Madonna look late 80's |
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| No wet Miss Sweden this time! |
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| Not bad! |
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| Lovely! And the colour scheme was an antidote to all those dull dark blue and grey palette almost all the other show gardens had |
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| Exhibits in the Floral Marquee were delightful as always |
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| Lots of plant hopping happened here in the Floral Marquee! |
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| Spikyliscious... |
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| More spikyliscious! |
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| Oh and lots of lush and leafy things too! |
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| The lovely people at Stihl gave us an extra warm reception! |
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| More show gardens of course |
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| And a grand fireworks display to cap the day and evening off! |
Mark :-)
Tuesday, July 08, 2014
RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2014 - Floral Marquee
Our coverage on this year's Hampton Court Flower Show continues with scenes inside the fabulous Floral Marquee!
Monday, July 07, 2014
RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2014 - Show Gardens
We had a fantastic time spent today at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show, catching up with friends and taking inspiration from the plants and displays at the Floral Marquee and of course the Show Gardens which were divided into different categories.
The weather was sunny and warm, simply perfect which made the day extra enjoyable and very conducive to admiring the exhibits and other features the show had to offer. There was a brief spell of rain showers later on but we were inside the floral marquee when it happened and the rain stopped just before we needed to leave. How's that for perfect timing?
The show was huge as always and there were so much to see but we managed to peruse most of it during our relatively brief stay there. As usual we felt we could do with another day spent there to fully savour this huge show but as most of you would know by now there is another 'event' we will be attending for the rest of this week coinciding with the
remainder of the show
The weather was sunny and warm, simply perfect which made the day extra enjoyable and very conducive to admiring the exhibits and other features the show had to offer. There was a brief spell of rain showers later on but we were inside the floral marquee when it happened and the rain stopped just before we needed to leave. How's that for perfect timing?
The show was huge as always and there were so much to see but we managed to peruse most of it during our relatively brief stay there. As usual we felt we could do with another day spent there to fully savour this huge show but as most of you would know by now there is another 'event' we will be attending for the rest of this week coinciding with the
remainder of the show
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Exotic Hampton Court
Hampton Court Flower Show certainly lives up to its name with the majority of the plants on display very much of the flowering variety. However that doesn't mean there is limited choice for those with more of an interest in exotics or foliage. In many ways we were spoilt this year with show gardens and nursery displays catering for the tropical look.
Of the show gardens A Valley Garden was the one that stood out from the crowd for exotic interest. Packed full of unusual plants, many of which were Crug Farm introductions this was one of my favourite gardens this year (my other favourites were less exotic so will feature in a future post no doubt). Designed by Sophie Walker, A Valley Garden is designed as a 'pop-up' installation, to be assembled and dismantled with ease and reinstalled with different planting schemes. Construction is entirely above ground, which makes the garden ideal for use on ‘no-dig’ urban sites such as car parks.
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| A Valley Garden featured many plants from Crug Farm |
I loved the piercing spear of a pathway that sliced into the water, this was reminiscent of a boat pushing aside the water as it would travel along a river. When we chatted with Sophie on Monday Press Day she explained that the garden style was influenced by a trip she had taken to the Amazon, and whilst much of the plants are from elsewhere in the world the garden did have this feel. A Valley Garden won a very well deserved Silver Gilt Medal.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
RHS Hampton Court 2013 - The Floral Marquee
It's not all outdoor attractions at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show, there are of course the marquees with individual themes like Plant Heritage, Rose and Floristry, Growing for Taste, and several others. Then there's the main one called the Floral Marquee wherein the display stands (that are up for judging and medals) and plant sales stalls of participating specialist nurseries can be found.
This marquee is a plantmans paradise; a showcase of a huge variety of plants creatively displayed, ready to be admired by anyone who ventures in it. And even better, you'll have the chance to indulge in plant retail therapy too via the plant sales stalls, with the ones on display more likely they have some available for sale too. In there you are bound to spot so many rare and unusual plants to excite and tickle your fancy. It is also a great place to hunt for new plants or others that you may not be familiar with before but could potentially interest you.
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| As floral as can be! |
Monday, July 08, 2013
RHS Hampton Court 2013 - The Show Gardens
What a fabulous day it was at the RHS Hampton Court Flower! The sun was shining, it was warm, the atmosphere was superb, grand setting, it was perfect!
And as a taster to the show that is about to open to the public tomorrow, here are photos of the show gardens at this years show...
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| Glorious setting (and was tempting to dip in!) |
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Heather and Conifer
I wasn't. I really bought a heather and a conifer (and yes only a few plants, ran out of time to pick up some more). And very nice ones too.
Heather and conifer for an exotic gardening enthusiast? Of course! and why not? Exotic gardening is a broad and relative term (mainly depending where you are in the world, an exotic plant to some may not be to another) and covers all sorts of plants, not just your stereotypical cannas and bananas associated with the humid tropics, nor agaves with the deserts.
And that includes heathers and conifers, especially if they originate from another part of the world, and a plus point too if they look unusual.
So what heather and conifer did I buy?
The heather is Erica cerinthoides, the Fire Heath and is a native plant of South Africa. I got a couple of small plants from the sales table of Trewidden Nursery, of which they also had a bigger plant on display at their gold medal winning floral stand. I was instantly attracted to the intense, almost fluorescent orange colour of the flowers, as well as its beautiful and tactile foliage. Loved everything about it really so I thought it's worth a try. I was meaning to plant them in one of the raised beds but I'm not sure if I ought to now. The spot I was intending on putting it is not ready yet and its getting quite late in the season to possibly plant it. I may have to wait till next year.
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| Erica cerinthoides |
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| Erica cerinthoides |
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| Erica cerinthoides |
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| Sciadopitys verticillata |
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| Sciadopitys verticillata - the photo doesn't do it justice and have found it difficult to take photos of, with our camera anyway |
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| Sciadopitys verticillata |
Mark :-)
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
A Look Back at 2012 RHS Hampton Court Flower Show
We had such a fantastic, action packed time last Saturday at the recently concluded RHS Hampton Court Flower Show, so much so that it took us almost all Sunday to recover from our visit!
It is such a colossal show, there's so much to see and do in such a grand setting that if you're well into plants and want to see everything at a leisurely pace then a one day visit is not enough, it's more like a two day affair. We could have easily spent the entire day just in the Floral Marquee alone (where the stands of most of the specialist nurseries are, and where you can do most of your plant shopping). It's do-able with just one day of course, even just one afternoon but be prepared to whizz through some of the sections (which we did) or even bypass them altogether.
It is such a colossal show, there's so much to see and do in such a grand setting that if you're well into plants and want to see everything at a leisurely pace then a one day visit is not enough, it's more like a two day affair. We could have easily spent the entire day just in the Floral Marquee alone (where the stands of most of the specialist nurseries are, and where you can do most of your plant shopping). It's do-able with just one day of course, even just one afternoon but be prepared to whizz through some of the sections (which we did) or even bypass them altogether.
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| The Floral Marquee - this section is huge and could easily spend the day just browsing here. I think I took this photo a third of the way down, so just imagine the scale of it... |
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| An outstanding display of Eremurus inside the Floral Marquee (by Jacques Amand - Silver Gilt) |
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| Inside the much smaller Rose Marquee, which is about...Roses! |
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| This 'floral arrangement' won gold, which is deserving especially compared to the others in the Rose Marquee! |
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| A moment of naffness.... |
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| Garlic mania! One of the stands inside the Growing for Taste Marquee |
Monday, June 25, 2012
RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2012: Preview
This gardening blog follows our journey as we create our Tropical and Exotic themed garden. We hope you'll enjoy the journey as much as we do. We started our Exotic Garden in 2005 and this site will show its development, as well as our travels, both abroad and within the UK to gardens, nurseries and friends.
