Sunday 7 August 2011

Best In Show

I was absolutely awestruck at the sheer number of flowers under one roof at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show when I spent the day there a few weeks ago. The Flower Marquee was bigger than a football pitch and had beautiful displays from growers all around the UK.

Agapanthus seemed to be in full bloom everywhere. The Snow Pixie and Moonlight Star were poplar, but one of my favourites was definitely the unusual Black Magic for it's dark aubergine colour.



I never realised there were so many types of Chrysanthemum's - a far cry from what you usually see in the supermarket. The perfect spheres of bright yellow were like giant tennis balls, while other varieties on show included the gorgeous spindly Shamrock Spider, the spiky Delianne (a single bloom looks great simply floating in a fish bowl vase), and the aptly named Froggy.


The Gladioli looked like a fireworks display, with bursts of colour arching out against the pale backdrop of the marquee.



Blues and purples seemed to be the most dominant colours in the stands though, and I was loving the vivid cobalt and royal blue colours of the Delphinums and Larkspurs. Not to mention the spectrum of purples from all of the Lavender - I couldn't help but reach out to touch them and enjoy the scents as I was walking by.

 

 

They say there is a Dahlia for everyone, and I definitely found this to be true as tight round buds, cactus like spikes and romantic soft petals provided a pick and mix assortment for people to choose from.   

 


I could probably go on forever about all of the flowers I saw that day -  the beautiful Naranja Amaryllis (another favourite), the Ladybird Poppy and the Gloriosa all held their heads high above some of the others on display.



But there was one stand in particular that I was just memorised by. The NFU in collaboration with Waitrose put together the most spectacular and imaginative arrangement of British produce - fruit, veg and flowers, to walk away with three awards from the Flower Show. And well deserved too. A picture paints a thousand words, so I'll let the rest of the photos speak for themselves.



 






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