Hampton Court Flower Show 2009 has as usual suffered from the weather; as for the last two years it has been incredibly hot beforehand and then poured during the show with the inevitable knock on effect on the flowers and foliage.
This year it was strange to be standing the other side of the track. And how I missed the set up buzz, the sense of comradeship caused by trying to do the impossible with a great group of people. I do love the Hampton Court Flower Show. To me it is far more ‘real’ than Chelsea. There is the room to move around; families are welcomed; and it has the feel of a country fair. That said, the wretched carriers that everyone fills with plants and pulls around after them, is enough to cause heart failure never mind broken ankles, legs, and generally a filthy temper as yet again someone swerves in front of you. Grrrrrrrrr.
I really missed the water gardens this year though. They have been utterly superb, and having some experience with ponds and the like I take my hat off to those fantastic companies and designers that created them. Their standard of excellence was sorely missed and I hope that they return next year.
That said, there were some excellent gardens, particularly in the small garden category. It was also good to see that the organisers have apparently learned a lesson; many of the gardens you could walk through or walk round. It makes them so much more approachable and easy to see as well as assisting the design. You don’t have to take into account your next door neighbour’s boundaries, which, let me tell you can be a complete headache, particularly when you have no control over what is going next to you.
The garden’s that really stood out for me were Fiona Stephenson’s Oak Tree: Lying in State. The stark image of a stunning dead oak tree underlined with achilleas was stunning. It would have looked even better if it had not been tucked underneath the trees and surrounded by tents.
I also loved the Dark Side of Beauty by Raine Clarke-Wills and Fiona Godman-Dorington. I take my hat off to them for creating a garden out of poisonous plants – I am just surprised that they were not swarming with the Health & Safety brigade with clipboards. (Anyone who has planted up at a show knows that the Health & Safety brigade produce more paperwork and more worry than anything else.)
I also enjoyed the planting – there was, dare I say it, far more variety than Chelsea. This is of course, partially because it is later in the year than Chelsea, but also I think because the whole event is less ‘precious’.
The concept gardens go from strength to strength. There is often a simplicity about them that I find incredibly attractive; in particular It’s Hard to See which was beautifully executed as was Concreation where the contrast between the hard concrete and the tactile presentation of the plants was stunning.
