A Day at RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2018 | London Lifestyle

 

 

Busy Lizzies

I was lucky enough to win a free ticket to the show by winning an RHS twitter competition after picking up a Busy Lizzie plant at Waterloo station. The RHS team were handing out plants to encourage busy commuters to look up from their phones and spend more time outdoors by looking after their Busy Lizzies. 

I learnt that the Busy Lizzie show garden was sponsored by B&Q who launched a new generation of Busy Lizzies which are highly resistant to a fungal disease that destroyed the plant back in 2011. We can all rejoice for the return of the Busy Lizzie which is available to buy from selected B&Q stores in the UK.

Flower sale

I visited on the last day of the show and hadn’t realised that most display plants go on sale at discounted prices at the end of the day. A flower sale, heaven! Needing a souvenir, I returned home with a mint plant and a few bargain climbing plants for our little garden. 

The end of show sale was serious business, people were queuing up with trolleys in tow for plants they’d seen earlier in the day and were determined to take home. It was a scorching day and it was pretty funny watching hot and bothered gardeners standing their ground, glaring and snapping at anyone who dared to jump the queue. But when the goods are this stunning, you can’t really blame them!

Show gardens

My favourite show garden, ‘A Very Modern Problem’ was a very clever display inspired by the growing influence of social media on every day life. Two gardens were separated by a looming large smart phone screen. On one side you see a typical British garden; garden furniture, children’s toys, flowers and a less than perfect lawn. And on the other a perfect and precise garden – aesthetically pleasing but heavily filtered and ultimately unattainable – much like social media.