Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2012 (Part 2)

The glorious scent from the roses brought me into the Rose and Floristry Marquee. I enjoyed it since some of the work was fantastic to see. There are some very artistic and clever people out there.

How wonderful are these?

Beauty and the Beast or a complete wedding dress made from roses.

Just stunning!

A lot of the plant nurseries sell their plants all week at the Hampton Court Flower Show. This is strictly not allowed at the Chelsea Flower Show, until the show closes on the last day.

This is not a show garden! It is in fact a complete and most beautiful herb garden built by a nursery to sell their plants. If you see anything you like, you just go into the tent and buy it! Advice is also given on the culinary and medicinal uses of herbs.

Probably the most purchased plant at the show was the ladybird poppy! There were hundreds of bougainvilleas of every different colour for sale.

A lovely stand of lilies for sale!

Water plants and associated plants for surrounding a pond.

Of course you do need Gunnera manicata for somewhere near your pond, and I love white or pink Angels fishing rods.

There were plants for sale everywhere, all nicely laid out for people to see, admire, buy and hopefully find them a home.

I always go into the Grow For Taste Marquee to see what is new. The runner beans on the left look beautiful and the new chili plants look promising. Chili grows well in some parts of the UK and has become very popular to grow. You even see it being grown in window boxes outside homes. I have tried some homegrown chilies and they are very hot compared to the imported, shop-bought chilies of the same name.

Wildflower seeds are very popular as people actually make wildflower meadows in their gardens. The Garlic Farm won a Gold Medal for this display and the whole roof was made from garlic bulbs!

Companies like this make all the travelling to the shows worthwhile, what a fantastic display of organic vegetables and herbs, a real treat!

From greenhouses to cold frames! They do not put the glass in the cold frames, so as to prevent accidents!

Outside was a whole display of animals made with sempervivum and other plants.

Very nice!

A very fat rabbit and Nessie, our very own Loch Ness monster.

 Allium for sale as far as you could see. There was another wonderful nursery stand on the right.

You could become bankrupt very quickly with all these plants to tempt you.

Garden Art and associated gardening items are very popular, as Hampton Court has the space to display lots of it.

Some of these were beautiful, but unfortunately so was the price!

The fox was lovely, but that owl is so gorgeous.

The fountain I want, but the sundial would have been of no use at all this year!

Garden Art of a more watery kind.

Garden Rooms are always popular at Hampton Court.

These spheres with internet connection can be seen at every show. Strangely enough there was a small show garden (below), designed to get youngsters away from sitting indoors on the sofa with their laptops, and out into the garden to sit on beanbags with their laptops. The garden room on the right is a tad small.

This is the show garden called "Social Deckworking" that is supposed to get youngsters out of the house and into the garden. Then they built a rotating glass sphere so they can sit in it with their laptops and not in the house or the garden; not logical to me.

"Celebration & Jubilation" is this show garden's title. Decked out in patriotic red, white and blue it did look nice. We were informed it was designed for sitting and celebrating H.M. Queen's Diamond Jubilee whilst outside. That indeed would be lovely if it had a roof over it; it rained all week!

Garden Art in bronze, and on the right Water Art.

Absolutely gorgeous wood and metal birds and squirrels, perfect for the garden.

A lovely hand built stone folly pizza oven, and a BBQ to blend in with Hampton Court; I think I know just the place for it!

This dog and the pig made from sempervivums are not on display; they are for sale! Just what every garden should have.

You could even buy a sempervivum tortoise, or maybe two?

This show has something for everyone! I liked the Gypsy caravan hencoop complete with chickens. The hencoop on the right is practical for the small garden as well.

I really fell for this Garden Room, and then sadly on the right I saw the price, ouch!

This chicken is made from clay and quite lovely. No watering, no feeding and yes, no eggs. I had to look closely at the picture on the wall on the right. It is a living sempervivum picture hanging on the outside wall.

In the Bee Marquee there was a glass beehive, and also the opportunity to have a go at making beeswax candles to take home free of charge.

Every year they have a competition for the schoolchildren from all over at the show. This year the theme was building scarecrows and there were lots of them to vote for. The one on the left is "Bob the Bike," and on the right is one of the tennis stars, Andy Murray.

This always happens when you want a cab!

I hope you will join me in Part 3 when I brave the Floral Marquee.

Regards.

Neil.