Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2008 Awards and Pictures

Updated: 18 Jul 2008

Rain and a surfeit of vegetables made the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show something a little more than a little less than its former days of awesome splendour. Gone were the gobsmacking head turning mind numbingly brilliant concepts. Now its back to 'Dig for Victory' with dull puritan austerity as the self-inflicted economic doldrums come grinding over the horizon. I love vegetables and have grown them for sustenance since my early twenties, but I dont charge people to come to see my brussel sprouts or my curly calabrese. There are some things best kept private.

Then there are the 'green' gardens that have recycled everythings and wind and solar driven everything elses. Glass gravel and plastic bag netting. The frustrating thing is that these ideas that have been around for so long look pretty mundane to those of us that have been au fait with the possibilities of being 'green' in the garden since they started gardening nearly 40 years ago.

Then there are the gardens for kids. The RHS have made a big effort over the last few shows, this year and last, to get children to like gardens and gardening. Firstly it is to just get them to like the outdoors and interact with it. And then get involved with it, like grow things. These sort of gardens are pretty dull for all but very little kids and (more so) their Mums and Dads. Been there, done that again. Getting kids into gardening is very important and I hope the RHS initiative works, but it is not necessarily very uplifting for adults in the meantime.

Other featured gardens were awash with ideas for 'Wild life gardening'. Gardens for wildlife are great and the whole idea is fascinating, but gardening surrounded by too much wildlife is very difficult and frustrating, and this never comes across in these idyllic retreats. Where are the mole traps and rat traps next to the veg beds. The solar powered deer scarers, or wind driven scarecrows. I thought at first that I was odd in managing to miss the winning garden. Yep, despite my 'green' credentials and the fact that I've got kids, I never even bothered to photograph the winning 'best in show' garden, the Dorset Cereals Edible Playground, but then it ain't odd, not when you've been there and done that so many times. So when you think about it, Nick Williams-Ellis's garden, it was bound to win, it ticked every single box with the RHS green light behind it that could possibly be ticked. It encouraged schools to develop kitchen gardens for growing learning and eating - tick 2 boxes. It used natural materials such as willow hurdles and green oak. Tick. It had wind power and weepy hoses. Tic, tick. No wild animals though! Shame! But there soon wild be with all that oats and wheat ripening there.

Best Show Garden: Dorset Cereals

Best Small Garden: Widex

Best Conceptual Garden: Tony Smith

Best Inspiring Space: Pound Farm Shop & Plant Centre

Best Exhibit in the Floral Marque: Jekka’s Herb Farm

Best Exhibit in the Festival of Roses: Peter Beales Roses

Best Exhibit in the Plant Heritage Marquee: J Lindsay

Water Gardens at Hampton Court Flower Show 2008

Once upon a time Hampton Court Flower Show was almost a Mecca for water gardeners since this was a major show that sponsored a special category and awards for water gardens. Although most gardens contain at least one water feature in this and most other shows, here was a section of the show that generally attracted at least 8 or 9 large gardens that were exclusively devoted to water. That high point of a golden age has reached its nadir. Here was but two water gardens and the designer and sponsor of one of those those was as a result of some last minute pleading. Then to add insult to injury the category was completely dropped from the judging and the water gardens had to fall in with the other major show gardens to compete for the medals.

So World of Water and their Pete Sims and the Dorset Water Lily Company with their pet Claudia De Yong were head to head on the watery front, but big wet water offering were also on tap from the likes of the Burgbad Bathrooms with David Cubero and James Wong. These guys even had real koi flitting up and down their rills - a more uncomfortable looking bunch of fish I haven't seen outside of a trawler's net. More fluid was being dispensed from pyramidal fountains in the Gelly and Boardman Way Forward and Helen Ellison's Sustainability can be Sexy, whilst still water for reflection was the main feature in the Amanda Patton creation for the Society of Garden Designers and the Association of Professional Landscapers and Bradstone. Rills and fountais featured in the Copella Fruit Juice Garden by Sadie May Stowell and a veritable facsimile of a canal and lock gate was presented by Gill Lomax and Steve Pearce. In the Porche garden the motor rising out of the ground eclipsed the water feature at the back.

The World of Water Garden was a perfect compromise of formality and informality, design and practicality. A raised pool from a sunken garden.

Claudia de Yong loves to create an excuse to display tropical or tender water lilies so this year we had the Romantic Charm of the Mediterranean. Both gardens more than deserved their silver medals.

Best Show Gardens and Water Gardens (pics will follow shortly)

Gold

Dorset Cereals Ltd, The Edible Playground. Also best Show Garden. Designed by Nick Williams-Ellis

Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants, Beyond the Garden Wall – in the Daily Mail Pavilion. Designed by Rosy Hardy

Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Green Room. Designed by Sarah Eberle

Porsche, The Porsche Garden. Designed by Sim Flemon and John Warland

Hardy's Cotage Garden Plants, Beyond the Garden Wall

The Holiday Inn Green Room by Sarah Eberle

The Porsche Garden by Sim Flemons and John Warland

Silver-Gilt

The Anglian Green, Black and White Garden by Krista Grindley

The Travellers Garden with Bradstone designed by Amanda Patton

The Homebase Room with a View designed by Philippa Pearson

The National Year of Reading Garden by Courtyard Design

Mundy's Cottage Garden designed by Mary Payne and Jon Wheatley

Anglian Home Improvements, The Anglian Green, Black and White Garden. Designed by Krista Grindley

APL & SGD, The Traveller’s Garden with Bradstone. Designed by Amanda Patton.

Cedar Nursery Vineyard, Kitchen Garden and Donkey Paddock – in the Daily Mail Pavilion. Designed by Tim Sharples.

Homebase, The Homebase Room with a View. Designed by Philippa Pearson

National Year of Reading, The National Year of Reading Garden. Designed by Courtyard Garden Design

Winchester Growers – Mundy’s Cottage Garden – in the Daily Mail Pavilion. Designed by Mary Payne and Jon Wheatley.

Silver

Hope - The Way Forward by Boardman, Gelly and Co	The Burgbad Sanctuary by David Cubero and James Wong	The Croft Spot Secret Garden by David Domoney
Romantic Charm by the Dorset Water Lily Comapny and their designer Claudia De Yong	Discovery by Libra School with Gill Lomax and Steve Pearce	Planting details get better every year with Pete sims water gardens for World of Water

Boardman Gelly & Co Hope – The Way Forward. Designed by Nigel Boardman and Stephen Gelly

Burghbad Bathrooms, The Burgbad Sanctuary. Designed by David Cubero & James Wong

Domoney Ltd, The Croft Spot Secret Garden. Designed by David Domoney

Dorset Water Lily Co., Romantic Charm. Designed by Claudia de Yong

Libra School, Discovery. Designed by Gill Lomax & Steve Pearce

World of Water,The World of Water Water garden. Designed by Pete Sims

Bronze

Branching out with Copella - The Apple Juice Garden by Sadie Mary Stowell	The Magic Garden by Francesca Cleary for Dial a Flight	Three in One Garden by Lesley Faux and the Garden Friendly Brothers
Sustainability can be Sexy designed by Helen Ellinson of Floral and Hardy Gardens	Back to the Future by John Marshall for Send a Cow	Southend-on-Sea Borough Council in patnership with Metal, a garden designed for our changing times.

Copella Fruit Juices Ltd, Branching out with Copella – The Apple Juice Garden. Designed by Sadie May Stowell

Dial A Flight, The Magic Garden. Designed by Francesca Cleary

Lesley Faux & Garden Friendly Brothers, Three in One Garden. Designed by Lesley Faux

Floral & Hardy Gardens, Sustainability can be Sexy. Designed by Helen Ellison (Floral and Hardy Gardens)

Send a Cow, Back to the Future. Designed by John Marshall

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council in partnership with Metal, The Water Table. Designed by Southend Borough Council’s Parks Technical Section, Metal Culture Ltd.

Small Gardens

Gold

The Fire and Iron Garden - Whirling Butterflies.

Sadolin Four Seasons Garden by Helen williams

The Widex Hearing Garden

Fire and Iron in association with Castle Gardens. Whirling Butterflies. Designed by Fire and Iron Castle Gardens

Sadolin, The Sadolin Four Seasons Garden. Designed by Helen Williams

Widex, Widex hearing Garden: Celebrating Sound. Designed by Selina Botham(Designs for All Seasons).