Hampton Court 2014

[Stan da Prato]

Thanks  to a couple of free tickets I visited this show for the first time last Saturday. The scale is so much bigger than Gardening  Scotland and the grounds  you walk through to the show ground  are themselves impressive. In contrast what must have been a very inexperienced coot had a nest in the open  by the canal which the organisers had fenced off. The floral marquee had the expected  range of colour and form with a patriotic  display  by UK growers catching  the eye.

[Stan da Prato]

not so many alpine exhibits as at early shows but John Amand's  Eremurus stood out. Several nurseries  used troughs often with hardy succulents.

[Stan da Prato]

more including some from Harpeley Hall who showed an interesting  Begonia reputed to be fairly hardy.

[Maggi Young]

I confess I had not realised quite how big this show is - the RHS published this photo with the caption :
"Beautiful aerial shot of the RHS Hampton showground last week - the biggest flower show in the world! "

[Stan da Prato]

Some orchids. The display of Disa was spectacular and included some of the more delicate species as well as hybrids but the gold medal  stand showing wild species of orchids  by Writhlington school was quite remarkable- you may have seen them on TV - if not look up their orchid project on their website -by far the best school gardening I have ever come across. On Saturday the teacher who runs the project  explained  that there were no young people  on the stand as they were off packing for their next field trip - I believe they are now  in  Rwanda.

[Maggi Young]

The RHS previously showed bins with this proud boast about recycling:


These photos of butchered trees from a show garden have come to light :




Rather makes a mockery of what most of us think of as recycling for fine trees - fire wood and mulch is not what I, and I think, many others, envisaged.
A shameless waste of these trees - here are some of the comments about these photos of good trees butchered for nothing -
From the person showing the pix:
"The end result of a companies 'recycling' policy after Hampton Court. Could have looked great in a school, park etc.
It's a tragedy to see such beautiful show garden trees at Hampton Court wasted in this way. Lazy & thoughtless! "
 
 RHS replies :   
"We are indeed aware & reassure everyone we do not condone it. We are looking in to it to ensure it doesn't reoccur."
"Just to confirm we don't condone this behaviour and are looking in to how it happened."
 
 from another annoyed person who thought such trees should surely be re planted elsewhere:  ".... if they're a member of the SGD they should be struck off!"
 
 RHS: " That's what we're looking in to right now - be assured we're not taking it lightly"

 I have expressed doubts about Show Gardens  from other aspects  in the past - now I am truly disenchanted with the whole process.

[Tim Ingram]

Maggi - yes that is quite disheartening for anyone who spends their life gardening. It doesn't entirely surprise me.