You probably have noticed that I love flowers. When the annual Chelsea Flower Show took place a few months ago we were too late in getting tickets and by the time I checked the prices it was GBP100 each - yes no joke - and so I sensibly closed the website and tried to forget about it. What I didn't know is that there is a less well known - but equally good I'm told - flower show at Hampton Court Palace in July. Thean and Doris are members of the RHS society and bought 2 extra tickets for this Hampton Court one, and asked if we wanted to join them. Wow, why not?
We decided to drive that day, and the journey took us about an hour with smooth traffic along the way. They converted a field next to the palace grounds as carpark and charged an exorbitant rate of GBP15 for a full day parking, to which we had no other alternative. People were streaming in steadily and there we were, all dressed up in summer gear.. hats on, picnic mat securely under my arm and K carried a bag of our lunch. It felt a bit too cold for a picnic and in fact I felt a light drizzle.
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| Examining the well trimmed tree |
Thankfully it probably was a passing cloud and we managed to sit on two deck chairs for lunch admiring the surroundings - how do they trim and maintain those trees I always wonder..
We went into the flower show where they have huge tents set up with different nurseries across the UK showcasing their plants and people were busy admiring and taking photos. We eventually walked to the flowers for sale tent and soon we realised why people around us were armed with plastic trolleys - to buy flowers. Loads of them. K nudged me and said we were probably the youngest couple there that day.. hah. We walked around, with me getting excited at all the colourful flowers and varieties, also getting confused over what we should get for our garden. All K said to me was "don't spend too much" lol.
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| How cute! |
See the thing is going to such a flower show on the last day means you can buy the plants which are part of each stall's beautiful display. Pots of plants were up for grabs, as long as you indicate to the stall owners which one you fancied. They would stick a number on it, pass you a ticket, and request for you to collect after 4pm. At 4pm sharp, a bell would ring and someone announce over the PA system that the show is officially ended, and stall owners may dismantle their creations, selling their plants to the public. And then it was chaos with people trying to get the best buys. Akin to lelong time in Singlish lingo. We placed our reservations on 4 pots of plants, at a display which was won the gold award in this flower show. We walked further and saw more plants which made me go all ooh and ahh..
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| How vibrant! |
After snagging another pot of hydrangeas to add to my growing collection, we decided to sit down by the river on our picnic mat and have a rest whilst Doris and Thean continued their flower shopping spree. They came back after 30min or so, and we crossed over to the tent of roses which was smaller and filled with countless varieties of roses in all sorts of colours. As we have three very established rose plants left behind by the previous owners in pink, yellow and red, I wanted to get one in soft pink, something that looks very English if you get what I mean. David Austin is a renowned rose seller and I was captivated by this rose variety called Wild Eve. After walking around more, I decided I would go for Wild Eve :) so that was pot #2.
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| I thought this was a uniquely coloured pot of hydrangeas |
The weather soon turned warmer and somehow more and more people were armed with the same pink plastic collapsable trolley. Everyone was counting down to 4pm. I went to queue up to collect our 4 pots of purple plants (keep forgetting their names, it's such a long word!)
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| Our loot between us 2 couples - with even more after I took this pic! |
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| They were selling garden sheds too. This is completely my inspiration for a garden shed. Alas K is not a fan of shabby chic :( |
Laden with plants we made our way out back to the carpark biting off more than we can chew. Man they were heavy! Naturally it took ages to even get out of the carpark and the journey home took longer than expected. The flowers looked dehydrated and I hoped they wouldn't die on us just yet! With some help from our gardener, we finally planted them on Friday, including the allium bulbs in our two new planters. Looking quite fine! Let's see how long they last under our tender care ;)
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