First stop the floral marquee
Post categories: Sally Nex
| 11:42 UK time, Monday, 7 July 2008
It's at times like these that it's definitely better to be a floral exhibitor at the . They're tucked up nice and warm - and, more importantly, dry - in the floral marquees, while the show garden crews are barefoot, having given up even on wellies, and sodden.
There are some advantages to a wet day at Hampton Court. This is the weather for showing off subtly-toned stone - the golden paving in 'Branching Out with Copella' was gleaming, setting off the gorgeous planting perfectly. This is one of my tips for Best in Show: designer Sadie May Stowell may be a first-timer but she's pulled off a real gem here. She picks up the rusty tones of perfectly-judged rusted-metal sculpture in sumptuous bronze, purple and orange planting, lightening the sultry tones with just the right amount of white from cow parsley-like Ammi majus and argyranthemums. The judges have already done their rounds and are no doubt making those all-important decisions as I write - but this one's bound to be a winner.
Gnarled wood also looks brooding and ancient in the rain, dripping with moisture and just as it should look. Designer Francesca Cleary must be delighted - her 'Magic Garden' has a sinuous wall of interlocking tree roots, and with harts-tongue ferns literally dripping from its crevices it's straight out of the Lord of the Rings. For all the talk of global warming, this is good traditional British weather - and if a garden can look good in this, it can look good anywhere.
Still, I found myself spending more time in the marquees than usual, which was no hardship. Amid frantic banging and the whine of screwdrivers - there's just a few hours to finish up now and last-minute panic has set in - the floral marquees are emerging in all their finery.
The Plant Heritage marquee is for plantaholics everywhere: however well you know your plants there's always something new. Did you know, for example, that there are cannas you can grow in a pond? Nope - nor did I, but the NCCPG has a tub full of them to prove it.
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