Friday Afternoon - 2 days to go
Post categories: Gilly Brennan
| 17:47 UK time, Friday, 3 July 2009
There's a lot of flesh on view at Hampton Court at the moment and most of it is very pink. It makes for an unfortunate combination with the livid, fluorescent yellow of the compulsory high-viz jackets but it is testament to the glorious sunshine of the last few weeks.
It must have been ghastly, having to dig and heave things about in the relentless heat, with only a snack bar on site to keep you going. But as far as I can tell at this stage, the results of all that sweat and sunburn look fantastic.
Some of the show gardens are finished and the flowers look perky and fresh. No garish colour combinations here. I saw one with a whole bed of reddish achillea mixed with coppery echinacea - it was simply beautiful and stopped me in my tracks.
At this time of year there are so many lovely blues around, like agapanthus, dark Lavender 'Hidcote', aconitum and fluffy ageratum. I saw some of these combined with purple-leaved cabbages, silvery artichokes and glorious sweet peas - you felt cooler just looking at it.
On her Garden Energy exhibit Sarah Eberle has some of the greenest turf I've ever seen - it's so fine and dense, I had to check it was real. Maybe this is what golfers are used to, but compared to the rather brown fields of the showground it looked extraordinary.
I came across one designer who was painting his grass black! He wanted the effect of the new shoots coming through it, like emeralds, it was strangely moving. Green is just a colour, but so emotionally charged.
Soon all the high-viz will be gone, the painful pink will have turned to desirable brown and the show will be open. I can't wait - it's huge and exciting. Henry VIII would have loved it!
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