Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2012 (Part 1)

The front of the Palace is on the left and on the right, the rear from the north long water.

Here is some of the bedding as you walk to the entrance of the showgrounds.

The borders below the Royal Tennis Courts; tennis was invented here!

The rear of the Palace with its borders, on the right looking toward the other direction.

This is what the gardeners have done for Her Majesty the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year. It's very spectaculer and a lot of hard work.

There are a lot of beds and things to see on the long way from the Palace Garden Gate entrance to the showgrounds. I always take photos of them on the way in, since I am far too tired on the way out.

Last year it rained and the place was a sea of mud, which normally happens at Hampton Court anyway. This year we have had three months of rain, except for a few dry and hot days for the Chelsea Flower Show. So it was amazing to pick the only day it did not rain for this show, and the weather was in fact very nice.

The showgrounds are in the distance beyond the ancient, clipped yew trees. On the right, looking back toward the Royal Tennis Courts.

At last, through the show entrance and the start of the small show gardens. This garden was called "The Essential Indulgence"; it won a Silver Gilt Medal. I liked this apart from the metal poles, which spoiled it for me.

"Coastal Drift" was the name given to this garden, and it won a Gold Medal. Again the planting was lovely and I could see the idea, but why that horrid wall?

Now this, called "The Poet's Retreat", is a real garden to me; unfortunately the judges did not think so and only gave it a Silver Medal. What a wonderful place to sit and drink, paint, read, relax, or write; how heavenly.

"Butterfly Jungles Transitions" was the strange name of this one. I did like the Butterfly house completely full of Butterflies; it won a Silver Medal.

"Corner of the World" was the name of this garden for Autistic children. I did ask what the bubble tubes were for and I was told they are for sensory perception! But how are the children supposed to get near anything without trampling the plants? On the right is a bit of the Japanese garden, it did nothing for me at all. It was just a couple of Japanese maples, a few rocks, some moss, swirled gravel, and a waterfall in the middle.

You may think this belongs to the Army; a lot of people did. This is called "Possession" and is about the rainforests and how the drug companies are getting plants from the forests and patenting them.  Do drug companies have the right to steal plants and patent them to make a vast fortune? The problem was it was very dark there and nobody's camera would take a photo; luckily my camera can go down to low light levels, so I managed to get the picture of the inside on the right.

"Falling Leaves" by Elizabeth Seymour! This thing won a Gold Medal; how, is beyond me. There were the usual rubbish comments about modernist, vertical and horizontal design. I am glad I was not judging it; it would have received nothing at all from me.

"Two But Not Two" was the name for this one, based on a Buddhist concept; it won a Bronze Medal.

"Las Mariposas" or "Hopes of a Nicaraguan girl" was this most colourful thing! It was Amensty International Butterflies of Hope campaign for women in Nicaragua. It was supposed to be filled with tropical butterflies, but I think they must have returned to the tropics when I was there. This won a Gold Medal.

The one on the left is called "Chaos." It does not look chaotic to me, it is perfectly built, and it won a Silver Gilt Medal for a load of paving! The one on the right is called "The Coral Desert" and is full of cacti! You are supposed to walk through it and you get a fully immense experience that challenges the senses. Despite the cacti and no coral, raising the point about coral dying from pollution was a good one.

"Do Not Adjust Your Set" is the garden on the left. It is supposed to represent bringing colour into a monochrome world, when a giant television falls out of the sky and crashes into it. This won a Bronze Medal, which was far too high for it! The garden on the right is "Light at the End of the Tunnel"; it won a Gold Medal and Best Conceptual Garden. The planting was superb, but corrugated iron, plus old scraps and planks of wood?

This simple garden was for Dyslexia Action and won a Silver Gilt Medal. It was soft and very pleasing; the use of slate around the pond was excellent.

"The Italian Job" caused a lot of controversy, as it was not one thing or the other. Formal and informal planting was all right, but the modern garden design put a lot of people off.  Some people thought it was a swimming pool, till they saw the depth of the water; why bother putting any water in? It won a Silver Gilt Medal.

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" built for OAB, or overactive bladder that affects 7 million people in the UK alone. This won a Gold Medal and Best in Show and it deserved it. It was superbly built and gorgeous to look at. The whirlpool of water on one side represents the torment that people have in their lives with OAB, and then the bridge over to the calm water, the other side, represents the peace when they are cured.

Here is the other side of the bridge and on the left is the calm water. On the right is a wonderful planting going up the stairs.

I love this one called "Old and New"; Wiltshire stone and oak with old-fashioned plants. Unfortunately the judges did not love it and only gave it a Bronze Medal.

"The Russian Museum" was built to show the splendour and history of St. Petersburg in just 120 sq. meters! The planting was astonishing.

Here is more of the Russian garden, it only won a Silver Gilt Medal, which was a shame.

"Discover Jordan Garden" was sponsored by the Jordan Tourist Board. It is a very dry country, but we are told it has a rich resource of native flora. It won a Gold Medal.

"The Azorean Garden" takes its inspiration from the volcanic Azores islands. I love the hot mud pool.

More from the Azores, this won a Silver Gilt Medal.

"The Swiss Alpine Garden" was stunning. It won a Silver Gilt Medal.

"The Badger Beer Garden" was fantastic. A small walk through the Dorset countryside and you have beer flowing out of barrels in the wall, real garden art! Go past the wall and there was a small cricket pavilion with a scoreboard, where free samples of their great Dorset beer were served.  This won a Silver Gilt Medal.

"Our First Home, Our First Garden" won not only a Gold Medal but also Best Low Cost, High Impact Garden. It was great to see it done on a tight budget and yet so lovely.

More from "Our First Home, Our First Garden."

"Compromising Situation" was a strange garden. It was designed for a young couple living in a Victorian terraced house and wanting different things out of their outdoor space. So it was designed for both their needs.

More of  "Compromising Situation" which won a Silver Gilt Medal.

"A Very Victorian Fantasy" by Bournemouth Borough Council Parks Department. It was designed with two sides to represent the literary and art heritage of Bournemouth.

The dark side is meant to represent Mary Shelley, who of course wrote Frankenstein. The lighter side represents the Art Nouveau of people like Aubrey Beardsley.

A massive amount of work by Bournemouth's Parks Department, sadly this only managed to win them a Silver Gilt Medal.

A fantastic display of plants!

I do hope you will join me in Part 2.

Regards.

Neil.