Hampton Court Festival Gardens

It's about 11 or 12 years since I've been to Hampton Court Flower Show, used to go every year as I then lived in Sunbury on Thames. Used the bus rather than the car due to the amount of traffic. DH & I always enjoyed it, very impressed. Obviously things have changed but I haven't seen the tv programmes this year so can't comment about the changes in the gardens.

Real gardeners should recognise that these are "show gardens" & in no way would expect their own garden to look the same, we all need inspirtation at times

Oh Dear I'm going to Tatton Park in a few weeks and was looking forward to it.

Off to Wisley next week. I am not a fan of Garden shows as they re selling a lie- no garden can have all its plants at their best at the same time- unless you would accept that the rest of the year would be 'dead'. It gives a very false picture of what a garden is- a series of 'shows' that change throughout the year- some plants disappearing as others take over. In my garden from late winter until late autumn.

Wisley and other gardens RHS or not, are a much better and true representation, I feel.

I’ve also thought that Chelsea and Hampton Court have, in recent years, been less about the plants.
I’m going to Tatton, it’s in a more spread out setting and has always had a focus on the plants and gardens. They have a section where local schools design mini gardens and one for young designers, who are less well known.

I went to the show preview on Monday night and was very disappointed. The plane was the most memorable garden and I felt it was in the wrong place..... Show gardens at RHS shows are often inspiring and encourage beautiful planting - we saw no beautiful planting except for the vegetable garden. The flower tent was lacklustre and the rose tent cast a strange light over the blooms. Many trade stands had nothing at all to do with gardening and the music was all pervasive. I really hope the RHS isn't going the way of the National Trust!

I too must be out of date. I would rather have seen some interesting planting.

The outside furniture is a strange concept - it only needs rain or a bird in need of bowel relief and they would just become a mess.