Hampton Court Garden Festival

Well reader I decided to go.... it was raining when I set out but the forecast said the rain would clear...
I met my friends inside the show ground - now called Garden Festival, not Flower Show...

 small displays around the entrance area

 the rose marquue has been relocated (and reduced in size) to "this" side of the Long Water and near the entrance.




the colour of the canvas is not conducive to photography!

 beautiful white (honestly!) rambler with delicate yellow centre



I left Leslie and Natasha buying roses and went outside to explore

 the Beth Chatto garden.  Beth, one of Britan's greatest gardeners, who died last year age 94,  pioneer of gardening without watering her gorgeous dry garden (it's on my bucket list to visit)

 the rain stopped about this time

beautiful, I loved it!


I went and retrieved the others and we went off to explore


beautiful display of dahlias

 raindrops!!

 there were some gorgeous willow sculptures around

 got Leslie to take one of me - one bonus of going with friends!

 we loved these boxing hares and I include them for Jan especially!

 whilst the layout of the show gardens and trade stands in the show seemed totally different to previous years, there were lots of fascinating things to see


bronze garden ornament (couldn't get the full circular piece in)

 Cancer Research garden

 beautiful planting scheme

 wonderful raindrops on the ends of the branches

 the LiveWell Garden

the wooden cube you can see is one of a series, on runners so you can move them to follow the sun

the water feature (left) also rotatated

 the Therapeutic Garden

 it had some stunning planting

love an agapanthas

these were gorgeous!

 the rain had collected in the dips

 there were some fabulous pieces

 this garden is called Through Your Eyes and you can enter the "head" to look through at the garden

 Leslie peering out

 you can of course see it from the side too

 we loved these stepping stones

 I missed the artwork on the back wall as there were people in the way

"the Lower Barn Farm Outdoor Living" garden

 loved the natural planting

and the "blobby" feature!

 this was another funky one, the Smart Meter Garden,  with a water feature in the centre through which steam and then water filters up through little holes


we couldn't get in to see, there was a long queue!

love the benches

 no prices on water features for sale = out of price bracket!

it was stunning though

 the somewhat garish blue is a water feature, with water trickling down chains

 this is the garden of the show sponsors, Viking Cruises.

 some more fab planting

 I need to start weeding out photos, this post is going to be too long...

 we headed across one of the pontoon bridges over Long Water - very dark grey sky still

to what is known as Plant Village - lots of small trade stands with small flower displays..

shopping time for Leslie and Natasha..


I just clicked away!

 allium city!

 Monarda..

 alliums

Gaura


(I always forget what these are at Kew.. might remember now!)

 loved this white agapanthas

 alstromeria lilies

 if this cotinus ("Young Lady")  didn't grow to 8 foot I'd have loved one.

amazing way the water drops hang on the branches

 pretty little foxglove

 great hanging baskets

 noticed a mirror in between the baskets

 after lunch it was time to hit the Floral Marquee... that didn't seem as big as normal either

 but maybe it was

'mums!

 how long does it take to choose 10 varieties?

it was a different experience with plant shoppers!

lots of fun!

 Gloriosa Rothschildiana


loved this

lavendar

 fantastic stand full of agapanthas

 so many colours

 bowl of peony flowers (think this was the one Natasha really liked, Many Happy Returns)

 liles... oh the lilies (keeping the numbers down now!)

loved this double one

 then we came across a stand that had agapanthas and dahlias and was displaying them intergrown,  they looked amazing.. so there are lots here

 this one is called Rhubarb and Cream.. beautiful

 fabulous dark hydrangea

 we left the marquee and crossed back over the water.

one of the 4 music areas, was on a bridge - the Floating Stage..

 we loved these pink flamingoes!

 you know me and a reflection...

 and these huge deckchairs!

ok back to gardens...


there didn't seem to be as many show gardens and there were none of the smaller category gardens like in previous years.

 eye catching displays.

 the Urban Pollinators Garden


fabulous, soft planting

 and bug hotels!

 with seating areas

 love the copper piping 'taps'

glass for the garden

 the Year of Green Action garden..

lots of veg in amongst flowers and some cool planting

 no prices again!

 cool water feature

 sun was out now (not forecast)

gin tasting time...

the silver daschund bottle holder was fun

 low growing sunflowers call for low-shooting techniques

 I'd taken the globe so...

 veg pots growing out of old jeans

 the next few pics are from the Springwatch programme

this explains so I'll leave it in

 I caught sight of a grass giraffe... hadn't seen it earlier (was looking at something on the other side of the pathway)  so we nipped back.


astro-turf, they were fun!

 aww!

 we decided to go for a sit down by the dahlias we'd seen earlier,

 at the Woodland Stage,


a band was due on soon

the Buzztones.. they were great.  started with a Spice Girls medley  and did a half hour set.


it was good to sit and rest - in the blazing sun mind!

 we walked back through the rose marquee

 to some stands near the entrance that we'd not seen at the start of the day

 On the Brink (highlighting "plastic blindness"

 I left  Leslie and Natasha to go and pick up their roses and headed home (as we go different ways)
pausing for a look through the gates of Hampton Court palace

and the river as I walked back to  my train


Hope you've survived this mammoth post...

what a great day!