and then without fanfare but with much aplomb RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival straightened its shoulders, held its head high and made its covid-safe entrance. The wind in the trees sighed 'at last' and the gnomes on the stalls donned their face masks and got ready for the visitors to arrive.
The sun shone and despite some threatening clouds every now and again it was a good day to visit the show when I went. Sometimes Hampton Court can be very much on the warm side, but it was just right on this day. On arrival I had to show my evidence of having either two vaccinations or a recent negative Covid test. Evidence was confirmed and in I went. I walked in a few paces, paused and enjoyed a moment of hope that life would restore to a normal again.
and then I headed for the nurseries. There are two plant selling areas plus the floral marquee so there is a lot of temptation.
The Floral Marquee is the few areas of the show under cover. You can see it is well spaced out, though of course it will look different with more people wandering around it. You are expected to wear a face-covering (unless you're exempt) when in the marquee.
I made my pilgrimage to the Hardys Cottage Garden Plants stand.
and spent a bit of time coveting the aspidistras.
and I spent some time admiring these Anguloas, which I think look like little chicks opening their beaks for food.
There was also some serious succulent coveting going on, so I walked on quickly before I tried to buy too much.
I am a big fan of the Country Living Tent, well in previous years it was a tent, this year it is a series of individual tenty-booths. I am really hopeful that it continues to be tenty-booths when social distancing is no longer a thing. I am a big fan, I know I said that, but the tent often gets very warm and I often have to do it in stages as I find it can be a bit stuffy. It does take up more space in this new format but it is far more preferable from my point of view and I could peruse the tenty-booths to my heart's content.
There is a mix of show gardens and RHS Feature gardens. This is the 'RHS Iconic Hero Garden' which honours Tom Stuart Smith who has designed this garden. It is the most superbly planted garden and the plants were all grown by the Sunnyside Rural Trust, a charity that provides training and work for people with learning disabilities. I had a really nice chat with one of the representatives from the Trust and I was very impressed learning about the work that they do.
This is 'Extinction' by the designed Felicity Rourke Smith and is one of the Global Impact Gardens. The garden gives a strong message about the impact of our behaviour on our planet. The information for the garden says "This recently crashed aircraft represents a paradox, being one of mankind's notable achievements in technology, while contributing to climate change and the rapid spread of Covid-19." I get the message, I understand and agree with the urgency that we have to be changing how we live and I appreciate that this garden is meant to make me feel uncomfortable and it succeeded in that. I was disturbed by it and it made me think about all the people who have died and been injured or gone missing in air accidents.
I then wandered into the Allotment section and here I found joy.
The RHS Feature Garden 'No Dig Allotment Garden' designed in association with Charles Dowding and Stephanie Hafferty was a garden to behold! You can walk through the garden and Charles and Stephanie were there to talk to people and share their knowledge.
In the main allotment area there is vibrance and colour.
There were lots of exciting ideas and people keen to talk about their allotment associations.
and I met the lovely Lucy Hutchings of She Grows Veg standing by her allotment garden.
If I may use an overused phrase- it is a riot of colour.
I loved these allotment gardens, they felt like fun, accessible and inspirational. If I may be a permitted just a little peeve, they did feel a little over-show-gardened. Everything was immaculate, all the veg was perfect and the flowers gleamed. I would have loved to have seen a dirtier, more real feeling allotment. Where was the slug damage, where was that clump of couch grass that refuses to be removed? These allotments are selling the perfect dream and that is great, but some smudges around the edges would have been nice. Would less perfect gardens be less inspirational? That is a question that I cannot answer for certain, I suppose the answer is maybe.
I then continued over to the Festival of Roses, which included this lovely rose tea garden.
Then it was time to see some more show gardens.
This is a selection of some of the gardens at the show. They were of very high quality and I loved seeing the different styles.
and there are fascinating stalls with things to buy.
Do not be too surprised if I don't return home from one show or another with one of these....
most likely this one, but I don't know where I would put it. Once I work that out.....
