British flowers from Plantpassion

I've mentioned Claire from Plantpassion before - she was one of the hardworking flower growers at the Flowers from the Farm stand at Hampton Court Flower Show this year, showcasing some of the best British flowers of the summer. I visited her flower farm in spring, but it was raining by the time I thought to take photos of her field, and I had to leave when the kind florist who was giving me a lift to the train station was leaving!

Claire's been on a photography course with Emma Davies, and she sent me a lovely photo of her field now. It's looking wonderful!

Of course when I went in spring it was full of different flowers - tulips in all sorts of colours, cerinthe, early cornflowers, and loads of apple mint. I did take photos in the polytunnel, and I was amazed by all of the dahlia pots (there were many more than the ones in this photo)...looking at the recent photo of the field, I can see Claire's hard work has paid off!

There were ranunculus, more cornflowers, and anemones.

And giant ammi.

There were also plenty of seedlings - chrysanthemums, gladioli, and more.

And lots of herbs.

If you live in Surrey, Claire's farm is well worth a visit, especially if you are a florist or you are planning to do flowers for an event. You'll find gorgeous flowers that you might not find elsewhere, and a grower with more than twenty years' experience in horticulture. Claire is ever so friendly too, which is a bonus! She will be holding an open afternoon on Sunday 21 September, so you can see the flowers in the flesh.

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.