The UK's major flower shows are the horticultural equivalent of the high fashion catwalk. What appears there trickles down to the common garden centre in a few months, and soon every garden is wearing it. This year's dominant trends were for dark and unusual flowers, and (as we've already seen for a couple of years) gardens that made statements about sustainability. Rambling, water-hungry English borders with lots of bright shades were as out of fashion as hats and gloves.I'll always prefer my colours vivid, but that didn't stop me from enjoying every moment of the show. Unlike Chelsea, Hampton Court is a much more practical, hands-on affair. The show gardens always seem to present stuff that's more manageable for the average home. The grounds are better spread to accommodate the crowds, meaning that vendors have more time to talk to you. Best of all, plants are for sale here. So you can fall in love with one of this year's trendy new introductions and immediately have it in your hands. As I did with a clear, white Leucanthemum with narrow, corkscrew-curling petals. Or, even better, go to your specialist of choice, describe the little hole you have in your garden, and get specialist help in filling it. Thank you, Bowden Hostas, for your exquisite "Touch of Class". Now I just need to keep the snails away from it.
This was the first year I'd taken off work to go on a weekday, and I may have started a new tradition for myself. In comparison to the crowded weekends, it was blissfully empty. I met two friends for lunch at Bluebeckers, a comfortable and modern bistro that had good food and friendly service at moderate prices; a huge surprise considering its prime location directly across the road from the palace gates. Our afternoon tickets gave us access from 3pm to the show's closing at 7:30, which is just about enough time to get everything in if you manage your pace carefully. Although, between our interest in the plants and our love of retail therapy, our pace sometimes slacked quite a bit.
Within a handful of show gardens it was obvious that a dark, blackish-red was the colour of the season. Hybridisers are clearly trying to breed it into a wide variety of flowers, but the colour was consistent throughout. Deep, inky, bold. Particularly striking when planted with reds and pinky-blues for contrast. Runner up in the colour stakes was a dusky pink with tones of burnt orange and brown. A subtle neutral that seemed more appropriate for home decor than floral punch, yet I did appreciate its appearance in flowers like Echinacea, where the traditional pink gets a bit boring.
I am ashamed to say, however, that I am finding nothing so boring as sustainability. We have been driving home the point about the need to save the planet at the big flower shows for at least three years. We get it. We've all seen the draught-tolerant plants and techniques, had the composting lectures, seen the clever recycled planting containers and learned the evils of using non-renewable peat moss and paving over front gardens. I would like a return to gardens planted for beauty and enjoyment, not for social purpose. But it was not to be. This year the usual Daily Mail tent (with its inevitable, traditional cottage gardens) was replaced by an area the size of a football field covered with renewable meadows, garden buildings with green roofs, an interactive education centre and organic chickens (exactly the same colour as those pinky-brown Echinaceas) scraping up an organic lawn.
Thankfully, two display gardens injected something more innovative into the sustainability message. One used humour: a washing line garden in which old bras and pairs of underpants were hung and used as planting containers (above). Another artistic: Homage and respect to a fallen oak by using its dead trunk as a centrepiece and planting tiers of flowers encircling it in shades that picked up the subtleties of the ancient wood. (Top)My favourite gardens this year were those that celebrated the ascension of Henry VIII to the throne 500 years ago. Six gardens, one for each wife, thoughtfully used plants and design to tell the story of each woman. Anne Boleyn's was rich with the symbolism of witchcraft and all those dark red flowers. Anne of Cleves' was a horticultural re-creation of the neckline and jewels of the gown in which Holbein painted her. Just across the aisle there was an apothecary's garden dominated by topiary versions of Henry's flagship, the Mary Rose. I loved it.
Despite the recession, retail seemed to be booming. Most people left the show laden with plants. The three of us added garden gloves, plant supports and chairs to the floral haul. They say in a recession, more people are staying home and devoting time and attention to their gardens. A trend that clearly was doing this year's flower show many favours. I know where I'll be on Saturday. Lovingly easing my new specimens into the waiting holes in my beds. Hope there's some sun so I can string the hammock and appreciate them once they're in. Show gardens are great, but there's nothing so satisfying as bringing it all back to your own little plot of earth.
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