RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

As the sunshine has returned at least for a short while – it reminded me of the glorious afternoon we spent at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show at the beginning of July.

It was glorious, but so very, very hot. We tried and see as much as possible, but we had to make frequent pit stops to keep the fluid levels up. We also had to leave early as we did not have tickets for the big opening party, but we managed to pack in as much as we could.

We loved the more than 60 scarecrows made by children from schools in Greater London and the Home Counties that belong to the RHS Campaign for School Gardening. The theme was ‘You are what you eat’ – Such imagination!

We loved the selection of show gardens, including the ones in the new category of Lifestyle gardens. For somebody, who must make do with a small balcony, these seem like paradise. From the Viking Cruises Nordic Lifestyle Garden complete with a sauna to the RNIB Community Garden celebrating the RNIB’s 150^th anniversary, from the Limbcare Garden to the Landform Garden Bar, from the Great Gardens of the USA to the Entertaining and the Family Garden. It is nice to dream! This year was also the 30^th anniversary of the BBC’s Countryfile, which was celebrated with a Wildlife Garden and there was a garden commemorating the centenary of the end of World War I, Battlefields to Butterflies.

We loved the Floral and the Festival of Rose Marquees – seeing so many varieties of our favourite flowers and plants was mindboggling. The Floral Tent was huge! My favourites? The dahlias.

The setting, of course, is another aspect that makes this flower show so special. In the backyard of Hampton Court Palace, with the Long Water providing a wonderful feature, it is just perfect.

Next time I am hoping to see even more and go to some of the excellent workshops and talks on offer.

Anyway, here are some of the photos we took to remind you all what a wonderful summer we had.

(click images to enlarge)