Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival

 Today is the first day of my week off work, and I was off to Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival

it was very overcast when I arrived  but warm

I never buy a show guide because the only thing any good in them is the map of the show, and there are plenty dotted around the place.. I took a photo of one to refer to but didn't once!  

the show guide this year was £10.... no way would I pay that!

I started in the rose tent - positioned near the entrance this time

this was the rose dedicated to the late Dame Deborah James

one of the rose displays

to be honest I was quite disappointed with the rose tent this time

this was a pretty rose.

I did come back later before I left, will share a few extra pics then

across from the rose tent are a series of small exhibits in what they call the Plant Village

there are always lots of fabulous plants

I loved this echinacea, called Green Twister

and this, a stokesia called Mel's Blue (but it's purple??!!) 

lots of purples mingling with white, 

this hydrangea was really pretty too, with it's red stems

some of the flowers had a greeny tinge

willow display

and then alliums, of course a favourite of mine

I'd got there not long after the show opened at 10, and it was already busy, but the joy of Hampton Court as opposed to Chelsea, is that it is on a much bigger site and so much more space!

even the plants for sale were photo-worthy

a great variety of echinacea on this stand

there is so much else for sale, you  need deep pockets to afford a lot of it, 

a lot of the gardens this year are focusing on global changes 

this was the Sarah Eberle "iconic horticultural hero garden"  telling the story of her 40 year career through plants (according to the blurb on the website) 

as I first walked past it was inaccessible as there was a film crew inside.. I checked back later

lots of people using this as a photo opportunity in front of the sign

the R was filled with bark, you may be able to see from the photo above,the H was flowers.  

blogger already changing the order of my photos...

the outside of the forest bathing garden

as you walk through the middle, there were silver birch trees and soft shady planting and seats (for the forest bathing!)  

across the way, this seat looked good (I did see someone testing it out later on but no idea if it comfy or not!

loved this giant plant filled moth

there was more music than previous years, different styles in different areas

I saw this hare and thought of Jan! She loves hares

if you watch the BBC Gardeners World programme, you will know Sue Kent, who does some work with them - she is  amazing and gardens with her feet as she has fore-shortened arms

she was invited to make a garden for the Get Started category - she won silver-gilt medal.

sadly she wasn't there (whilst I was there anyway)

but it looked beautiful

next was a garden aimed at novice gardeners with a new build garden - low maintenance 

there were several school groups enjoying (possibly!) the gardens

then what was possibly my favourite show garden...

I couldn't believe it only got a bronze medal 

what looked from a distance like willow was in fact crochet!

the planting was wild and loose and I loved it!

sadly you couldn't walk through the garden 

but had to enjoy it from the edges.

I hope they show it on tv tonight (I will still be writing this at the time it starts!)

not sure which garden this was... but loved the blue and yellow colours in this bed

edit  Just seen it on tv - it's the Planet friendly garden 

great water feature too

one of the trade stands had this bowl of peonies (I think)

the horse bowl they were in was staggeringly expensive, several thousand £....

this was another favourite garden

the huge containers they used for the planting were fab!

there were also some amazing sculptures

the designer was there talking to a couple about them

these wavy pieces are designed to move in the wind, they were gorgeous

there was another garden next door too that he'd made pieces for

this trade stand was amazing

you can't see from the photo but there is water dripping from the lower brim of her hat... loved it.

no prices = out of my league!

then another lovely garden

the planting itself was fairly simple, blues for the NHS mostly

but I loved the clapping hands

it's going to be installed at St George's hospital in Tooting (nearby hospital)  at their Neuro unit

great archway!

then I crossed the Long Water on one of the pontoons they erect for the show

you get such a good view 

of Hampton Court in the distance

I found somewhere to sit and eat my lunch

I hadn't realised until I crossed the water, that the Floral Marquee was on the other side this year

these two ladies walked into shot as I was trying to photograph the size of the Marquee 

which seemed much emptier of stands than normal

but lots of colour

although I did notice that lots of the stands didn't get awarded medals 

I can't remember if this one did or not

the fuschia displays are always good

one of a huge display of gladiolus (no sign of Dame Edna though)

more reversed images....

this display (and the 4 or so photos above) was beautiful

Hardy's always wins gold though, this year was no different

such pretty cottage garden planting 

now we carry on with the stand above Hardy's!

my camera (under the canvas of the marquee)  just wouldn't record the colour of this accurately 

nor did the phone partcularly, but better, much greener than you'd think

loads of aoeniums, beautiful 

another gold winner, Jacques Arnand (mostly bulbs)

blogger switching order again

beautiful allium display 

luckily I managed to avoid people

hosta stand

more amazing aoeniums

these were gorgeous  -gaillardia

agapanthus - another favourite summer flower

at the other end of the marquee, I tried again... 

before wandering down the other edge of the marquee 

loved this clematis

a different way to show off your dahlias!

streptocarpus...

as far as the eye can see

walking back past Hardy's stand I got a better photo of the rusty allium!

walked back across the water

found some more fab garden sculptures

definitely out of price range this, not a price in sight

absolutely stunning

this was another lovely garden - Over the Wall

(a children's charity)

and as you pass through the orange hole in the wall

you see the blue wall telling you about the idea for the garden

I mentioned before about the music - the festival element - in the bandstand a group was playing - they were called the Soul Brothers and were amazing

and they were encouraging a group dance-along

I just jigged... but it was great fun and I wish I'd seen more (you could hear it from quite a way off which was good )

this stand had some amazing pieces

they did have smaller items, but this was stunning

oh blogger stop it

ok  this garden is called What Does Not Burn

and is "a distallation of the Ukrainian landscape and culture" 

it's one of the new category "global impact gardens"

trees (ok, men on stilts) walking around the grounds

the 2 photos above are from the Sarah Eberle garden I couldn't walk through first time round

more out of order sculptures - this rose was about £2000 I think

another lovely garden

another beautiful garden exploring bereavement, in association with the Sue Ryder charity

the popular gardens mean you get to stand in a queue to walk through 

so you can enjoy elements while you wait

so much colour

you should be able to tell that the sun is out now - the cloud finally lifted whilst I was listening to the Soul Brothers sing and it was so warm i had to go and buy a hat (becoming a regular thing at Hampton Court) 

I always love these water features 

and these pots were fab... £200 for the biggest one!

I was back and forwards and round.....

this time round I came across some gardens I'd missed

this is the River Cottage garden

so mostly vegetables 

I took another walk through the floral marquee

this bougainvillea was such an unusual colour

my Mum used to have one of these (when i was still living at home) 

don't remember it being quite so impressive! 

beautiful salvia (bulleyana)

and this leuchanthemum calledy Sunny Side Up

it was lovely

lily, variety Angela (just for my cousin!)

there was a stand of orchids

this was unusual  -  anguloa (it's a tulip orchid - you can see the tulip share )

looked closer at the clematis stand

a white passionflower

I saw this earlier - scadoxus Katherinae

some fabulous carnations

some lovely colours

love the sunflowers - it was a company supplying flower boxes - like veg boxes - regular deliveries of fresh flowers

these containers interested me - made from recycled car tyres

not cheap, but a good use of waste rubber from worn tyres

I was heading toward the exit - the rose tent now bathed in sunshine

I went and had another look, as I said before

the sun through the canvas distorts the colours

but I did find some lovely roses - first thing some of them looked as if they were suffering a bit but these were fine

I sat in some shade (hard to find now) for a while before heading back to the station to go home

as I past the grounds of the Palace itself I peaked through the railings at their mini version of the Superbloom event that the Tower of London is hosting for the Platinum Jubilee - wildflowers taking over the normal manicured entrance to the Palace.

and yes, Superbloom is on my list so no more spoilers!

thanks for sticking with this marathon - it;s taken nearly 3 hours to put together!