Small but beautifully formed

The small garden category is always one of my favourites and two that got my vote at this year's show were

“It’s only natural” and “The Fire Pit Garden”.

“It’s only natural” was designed and built by The Plant Company and proves that a wildlife garden need not look like an unkempt mess - aside from appealing to the hippie in me.

Arthur Northcott & John Gutteridge's “The Fire Pit Garden” presents a great low-maintenance communal garden that is relatively cheap to build and maintain - and it looks great too. 

 

Thought-provoking gardens

Conceptual gardens are not everyone's cup of tea. But two of this year's offerings really caught my eye.

The first was University College, Falmouth's “A Fable for Tomorrow” (pictured above), which shows the effect of man on nature and vice versa and seeks to raise awareness of the Cornish seed bank and other environmental issues.


The second was Steven Wooster's “Hearts and Minds Heat Sand Mines” (pictured below), a garden packed full of symbols that provides a memorial to the servicemen killed in Iraq and Afganistan. The central scuplture can be viewed from four different angles.

Best in show

Relections of Thailand won the prestigious Best in Show at this year's Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.

The garden, which depicts a traditional Thai house by a river (or Sala Rim Nam), was also the only large show garden to win a Gold Medal, which was a somewhat disappointing result for the show as a whole.

Among the regional plants displayed on the garden are palm trees, coral pink hibiscus, plumerias and a range of water plants including lotus flowers.

Clematis couple

I love a good clematis - and here are a couple of beauties from Taylors Clematis Nursery which caught my eye at the show.

Bred by Raymond Evison in Guernsey, Clematis Amethyst Beauty (above) has a rich velvet purple that would compliment cream or yellow roses.

Clematis Shimmer (below), also bred by Raymond Evison, is a deep lilac blue that will literally shimmer in the in the light of dusk - so plant it near your patio for maximum effect.

An English rose

Dame Judi Dench admires Rosa "Horquinsey", the Hever Castle Rose from Bill Le Grices Roses, while the Bard looks on.

How old?

They should know who Jack Dunckley is after his second garden at Hampton Court...

But some eagle-eyed steward asked the poor lad how old he was. At 16, he is the youngest solo designer here at the show and his garden is a riot of colour, which may not go down too well with the purists but the general public will warm to it.

World first for Hampton Court

What better way to kick off the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show than with a peak at the first ever double angel pelargonium.

"Quantock Double Diamond" was one of those chances of nature, found on a plant of "Quantock Ultimate". It took Fir Trees Pelargonium Nursery five years to bring it to cultivation.

The plant is a miniature with a gentle trailing habit. The blooms are deep maroon doubles, which change shape as they get bigger.

A taste of Thaliand

One of the gardens I am looking forward to seeing is Tourism Thailand's rural, riverside idyll.

Designed by James Clarke at Elevations Exhibition Design and Management, the garden features a section of river that visitors cross to enter a lush garden and authentic Thai Sala (shelter).

Structural plants will include Musa, Areca, bamboo, Ficus and possibly Plumeria. Alocasia and smaller Musa will be combined with Heliconia, Canna, Codiaeum and various gingers as under-planting. The water plants will consist of Nelumbo (Lotus), Hydrocharis and Eichhornia with Curcuma (Siam Tulips), grasses and reeds lining the riverbank.

Layout changes to flower show

Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is very much about the plants. So to emphasise this, the Royal Horticultural Society has changed the location of the Floral Marquee.

It will be sited on the north side of the showground and will feature a dramatic 225 metre-long display area, filled with more than 90 plant displays from some of the UK’s best nurseries and growers.

Shakespearean theme for 2010 show

To celebrate its 21st birthday, the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show takes on a Shakesperean theme and runs from Tuesday, July 6 to Sunday July 11.

The highlight will be six Shakespeare Gardens, created by designers such as Anthea Guthrie and Yvonne Matthews, which be based on the Bard’s comedies: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, The Taming Of the Shrew and Twelfth Night.

Other attractions will be the Midsummer Rose Festival, in association with the The Royal Shakespeare Company, inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream and featuring a fabulous array of roses from top growers.

And schools across South-East England will be competing in a scarecrow competition based on one of Shakespeare’s comedies. The shortlisted scarecrows will be featured and open to a public vote at the show.

Tickets can be purchased (priced from £14-32) from the RHS or by calling 0844 338 7528.