RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2014: Deadly sins

The conceptual gardens at this year's show were all themed on the idea of the seven deadly sins. The first thing I saw when I walked in was Sheena Seeks' garden "Sloth: Quarry of Silences". It won a gold medal and best conceptual garden.

Each tool was different and represented a person. There was a huge golden rock at the top (each person's goal), but if you went around to the back, you could see that there were three graves to fall into, representing the mind, body, and soul.

There didn't seem to be as much planting as I'd have liked, but I did like the wild landscape around the quarry.

Then there was "Lust", designed by Rachel Parker Soden. It won a silver medal, but I think it deserved better.

As you walked through the garden, you peeped into the glasshouse. There was a red sofa, exotic red and peachy flowers such as gloriosa lilies, anthuriums and orchids, and a red neon sign that said "Peep Show" at the front (and "Live Show" at the back). I loved it - it reminded me of two things I adore: Marion and Ted's secret relationship in The Go-Between, and the sit-com Peep Show. Even Sam Bain, who writes Peep Show with Jesse Armstrong, appreciated the "Lust" garden's sofa.

The planting outside was beautiful. There were roses in pretty pinks and passionate reds, dark brown chocolate cosmos, red and pink achillea, and tactile plants including fluffy grasses and delicate ammi. There were also succulents, kniphofia, and a river with a crossing.

A brilliant conceptual garden was "Pride - The Stonewall Garden: Breaking Down the Barriers" which got a well-deserved gold. Designed by Amanda Miller, it was inspired by her troubles growing up as a gay teenager in a small town in Australia.

I thought the smashed wall, and the black and white painting at the back were powerful images.

The garden itself was beautiful, with gorgeous, colourful planting.

Katerina Rafaj created a Pop Art style garden called "Gluttony: E123", showing the excesses of food consumed and discarded in some countries. It won a gold medal for its Andy Warhol-style tins of food, giant jelly beans, and the planting which included roses, and a pond in a sardine tin.

A conceptual garden that really drew the crowds was "Wrath: The Eruption of Unhealed Anger". It won a gold for designer Nilufer Danis. Inspired by volcanoes, with occasional eruptions of smoke or water, it was a fantastic garden to take in all at once. The stunning red echinacea, yellow kniphofia, and orange achillea looked amazing, and certainly evoked strong emotions. As a trainee counsellor as well as a florist, I enjoyed this garden a great deal - the idea of quiet anger simmering away and then erupting is a powerful one that was well executed here.

A silver-gilt winner was "Greed: Dichotomy Garden" by Sara Jane Rothwell and JoanMa Roig. It was a garden in two parts, and as such, I couldn't really connect with it. One side was supposed to be the judge's garden with neat box hedging and a throne, and the other was wilder as a result of the "sinner's greed". There was a wall with a small mesh partition to see into the other side of the garden.

The "Envy: The Grass is Always Greener" garden was inspired by the idiom "The grass is always greener on the other side" and won a silver medal for the designer Marcus Green. I couldn't see inside the green Perspex box (apparently it housed an artificial lawn), but I did love the grasses growing outside it.

I love the texture and movement of grasses - there's something quite primal and childhood-evoking about them - so I took several photos of grasses at the show. Partly for my own enjoyment, and partly for Sara Willman of My Flower Patch, who loves grasses too.

RHS Hampton Court Flower Show 2014: Blue is the warmest colour

I visited the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show yesterday on a day that started off with bright, warm sunshine, but ended up with a very cold thunderstorm. Having seen the weather forecast, I thought it best to visit the gardens first, and then go for lunch when the rain started. As the rain was off and on for the rest of the day, I spent a lot of time taking photos under an umbrella. Occasionally, there was even beauty to be found when the umbrella matched the garden!

This is the gold-winning Vestra Wealth's Vista by Paul Martin. Such a beautiful garden with cool blues and whites but warm textures. There were tall showstoppers such as agapanthus, angelica and hydrangea, and lower-level beauties like the silver-leafed Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' (which I also spotted in Claire from Plantpassion's flower farm earlier this year).

I was intrigued by the NSPCC Legacy Garden by Adam Woolcott and Jonathan Smith. As well as having a beautiful design, gorgeous plants, cute toys (hello Peppa Pig!) and messages from children in jars, it featured a timeline spanning the charity's 130 year history. 

I loved the prettiness of the 1920s-inspired herbs, pink roses and achillea (a very popular flower in gardens and displays this year), the vibrancy of the 1970s-inspired bright dahlias, snapdragons and kniphofia (red hot pokers), and the sophisticated blues and purples of the 2014 agastache, agapanthus (another popular flower) and Geranium 'Rozanne'. 

I'm fairly sure Geranium 'Rozanne' was in the gold-winning Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants display. You can see it here with Escallonia 'Golden Carpet', bred by Neil Alcock.

Essence of Australia by Jim Fogarty won a gold medal and best show garden, and featured, as you might expect, lots of blue-green eucalyptus. I'm so used to using it in floristry that I forgot I first heard about the foliage as a child, when I learnt that pandas eat bamboo and koalas eat eucalyptus (but I never learnt about British trees or flowers, which was a shame).

Untying the Knot: The Bounceback Foundation Garden by Frederic Whyte won a silver medal. It has a gorgeous colour scheme that shows how to warm up blues and purples by contrasting them with sunny oranges. There were lupins, echinops and eryngium thistles, achillea and lavender.

Lavender was used in many gardens, and Downderry has a beautiful, gold-winning display again in the Floral Marquee. I overheard someone there saying that one variety had sold out because it was exclusive to their nursery (I assume it was one of the unusual, pretty pink or lilac varieties), so make sure you visit the stand early if you want the best selection to choose from!

Finally, a taster (with more to come later) of the Flowers from the Farm stand in the Roses and Floristry Marquee. This was their first year displaying at Hampton Court and, with the help of their network of flower growers and the florist Martin and the Magpie, they put together a stunning display.