Inspiration

On Wednesday I spent a lovely morning at Hampton Court Palace garden with Rona Wheeldon of Flowerona.  As you know, I covered the RHS Flower Show last month, but I haven’t been to the palace gardens for years.

Some of the palace grounds are free to enter, including The Rose Garden.  The weather was lovely yesterday so there were a few people enjoying a picnic in The Rose Garden.  A lot of the roses had finished, but there was still a heady scent of perfume as we walked round.

I think this statue is beautiful…even despite the nose job she’s obviously had at some time!

The more formal areas at the back of the palace were looking amazing.  The clipped yew trees are iconic and so beautiful.  If you watched any of the coverage of the Surrey Classic cycle race last weekend then you may have been lucky enough to see an aerial view of the grounds.

And although the municipal-style planting around the lawn isn’t really my cup of tea, somehow it works perfectly in this formal environment.  The bright splashes of colour really lifted our spirits.

The herbaceous borders run along an old brick wall either side of the palace.  Some of the flowers were going over, but the helenium, rudbeckia and dahlias were warm and vibrant and stole the show.

I love the interesting architecture at Hampton Court.  The detailing is amazing and each side of the palace has a different look and feel.

Look at this incredible brick retaining wall – functional and yet so beautiful and still standing after all these years…

The Privy garden was restored a few years ago.  So much was recorded about the original garden in 1702 that the reconstructed garden accurately reflects how it would have looked for William III.

The Pond gardens at the side of the palace were full of colour too.  Again bedding plants had been used to create an impact which, without the formal structure of the clipped topiary and pleached hedges, might have been too much to take in.

The other pond garden was slightly more reserved…

There were plenty of lemons on the trees in the lower orangery courtyard garden, I guess because it’s been so hot here this year.

I hope you’ve enjoyed looking through the pictures.  I’ll leave you now with this very inviting image of the horse drawn carriage which takes visitors around the grounds…

For details about visiting, or to learn more about the history of the palace and gardens, please visit the Hampton Court Palace website. 

(Images: Lisa Cox)

I was introduced to Ella Fielding at the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show this year as she had created the wonderful timber sculptures for the Plant Heritage stand.  My friend and fellow garden designer, Selina Botham, designed the stand and she worked with Ella to bring her initial ideas to life.  The judges awarded them a Silver-Gilt Flora medal. Read more

This is my final post about my visit to Loseley Park last week.  If you missed my earlier posts about The White Garden, Flower Garden and long water pond, you will find these at the bottom of this one. Read more

I hope you enjoyed my earlier bog post about The White Garden at Loseley Park.  I’m now going to share the images I took of The Flower Garden and long water pond which are my favourite parts of the garden. Read more

You may remember my blog series a couple of years ago about Loseley Park when I visited once a month and took photographs of the garden as it changed throughout the season.  I love it there, not only for it’s setting and intimate feel, but also because it’s not a manicured garden…the plants are allowed to be a little be wild. Read more

Hampton Court Flower Show is now over for this year and the hard work that went into the set up is being dismantled as we speak.  I suspect there are some tired people out there, especially with the high temperatures we’ve been having – shows are tiring at the best of times! Read more

So far I’ve featured the show gardens that inspired me this year, but today I wanted to mention the exhibitors who make up a large portion of the show.  Hampton Court Flower Show has a different vibe to Chelsea and there’s lots you can buy and take away with you, especially from the Country Living Marquee which is full of gorgeous things from art to clothes to jewellery and handmade cosmetics. Read more

The next garden I’m going to feature is The Garden Pad which was designed by Dan Bowyer and built by London Gardens and Streetscape.  I know Dan and I also work with London Gardens so I was even more interested to see the garden they had created! Read more

If you’ve been following this week’s show coverage then you’ll know that the Ecover Garden won a Gold medal and Best Show Garden.  The garden was designed by Matthew Childs and the inspiration for the design came from the fundamental principle that water is life. Read more

I’ve been out planting today and it was pretty hot despite the fact that the garden has quite a bit of shade.  I was thinking how hot it must have been at Hampton Court today…I bet there are a few burnt bodies this evening! Read more