It was called “Fantastic Thailand” and was designed  by Thailand’s Nong Nooch Tropical Botanic Garden. Each sculpture is covered with flowers individually hand-crafted from petals and leaves. They must have used thousands of them over the whole display. It was awarded a Gold Medal and certainly deserved it.

Fantastic Thailand

Fantastic Thailand

Fantastic Thailand

Dragons

Elephants

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Here is a metal sculpture which stands in the centre of a grass lawn. It is in the garden of a manor house which I visited last year.

Sculpture at Chenies Manor

Every year the glass house at Wisley garden has a Butterfly event where butterflies are allowed to fly amongst the Tropical plants growing there. It is an amazing sight and a chance to see these beautiful butterflies up close. I took a picture of this one as it rested in the centre of a plate of fruit.

Owl Butterfly

The wildlife in my garden is less exotic. At present he centre of my bird table is always occupied by Pigeons….Pigeons….Pigeons. All the food disappears in an instant.

Pigeons on the bird table

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Tomato 'Sungold'

Fruit you can pick for free in the wild.

Blackberries

Freshly baked goodies.

Flapjack

And best of all…a wonderful garden to view…

Beth Chatto Garden

…which also has a nursery full of mouthwatering plants :-)

Nursery at the Beth Chatto Garden

All are very hard to resist!

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Burghley House

'Vertical Face' by Rick Kirby

'Held' by Anna Gillespie

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Wildlife Tower (Chelsea Flower Show)

Allium seed head (Artdejardin sculpture garden)

Hungry Crocodile (Flaxbourne Farm)

The Illuminator by Tach Pollard (Pashley Manor)

Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria auracana) at Plant World

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Have a good weekend.

Mill Dene Garden, Gloucestershire

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It was our first visit to the show and we enjoyed it immensely. There were lots of plants and garden sundries to buy.  Everyone was walking around with full bags and trolleys.

Happy shoppers

I saw these carved wood garden seats and loved them. I decided we  could squeeze one single chair into the back of the car, though it did take a while to manoeuvre it in !

I must have one of those!

Best of all were the show gardens. They are always interesting to look at whether you like them or not. There is always a chance there will be some feature or planting I can use in my own garden. I would love to have the log arch in the third picture below.

The Inside Out Garden

The Wisdom & Youth Garden

The Owl & The Pussycat Garden

The Resource Garden

There were plants of course and many were for sale. I was quite restrained and only bought nine plants in total including three species Pelargoniums. These Alliums and Echium pininana caught my eye in one of the show gardens.

Alliums and Echiums

There was also entertainment at the Show as you can see. Cleve West, James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift demonstrate their dancing skills. The lengths some people will go to to get a round of applause!

Three Men Went To Mow - step 1

Three Men Went To Mow - step 2

Many thanks to VP and The Patient Gardener for organising this very entertaining weekend.

Seeds in greenhouse

I am not blogging or commenting as often for some reason – I do apologise.  I could blame The Web Designer and his wife J who moved in with us while looking for a new house. They have found one but it needs a lot of work so naturally they prefer staying on in more comfortable surroundings.  In truth it is lovely having them here as they have taken on a share of the cooking (hurrah!) and J has shown a talent for making scrumptious muffins (yum!).

Nor can I make much progress in the garden this coming weekend as I have been tempted by the garden bloggers’ get together at Malvern. The Digger and I are looking forward to the Malvern Spring Show and meeting people who have so far only existed in cyberspace.

I have a plan of campaign.

• I will not buy too many plants
• I will learn something about garden design that I can apply to my own garden (extremely unlikely but I live in hope)
• I will not obsess about expensive garden features and sculpture that I cannot afford
• If I take my sunglasses the weather will be sunny

Ready for the Show!

There are 3 permanent gardens, a charity garden and 12 designer gardens. The designer gardens are open until 4th October 2009. Afterwards they will presumably be demolished but I don’t know if new ones will replace them. I hope so.

First let’s look at the  3 permanent gardens which are designed by landscape designer Ivan Hicks. The first one is pure fun as you look at the garden through the eyes of an insect. Can you see the Digger who kindly agreed to pose so you had an idea of the large scale of the garden? Click for a closer look.

'Through The Flowerpot' Garden

The Second garden shows how a wildlife habitat can be made from the most unusual objects including toys, books and household items.

'Theatre of Insects' Garden

'Theatre of Insects' Garden

The Third is a fantasy garden with small circular gardens designed to reflect wasp galls inside a leaf.  Each one is a mini wildlife garden on a different theme. (Galls are round swellings formed on plants when a gall wasp lays eggs and plant tissue swells around the larvae).

'Spangle Gall' Garden

The charity garden is in part a memorial to a 12 year old boy called Harry who died of meningitis in 2007. ‘Harry’s Garden’ hopes to raise awareness of the work done by the Meningitis Research Foundation and the Child Bereavement Charity. The garden explores the possibility of using straw bales as a planting medium.

'Harry's Garden'

Then we have the Designer gardens. I’ll give you a taster of what is on show. The quotes are from the information  posters attached to each garden. They give you some idea of the designers’ intentions.

Nest - “By using willows that can be coppiced and burnt as carbon neutral fuel, Nest points to ways our children may keep warm in the future”.

'Nest'

‘Nature’s Artistry, Autumn’s Edge’ - This  garden explores ” the sense of becoming and regeneration in autumn, using material sensitive to natural form, and weathering”. The tall ‘rushes’ for example were made of cork, cardboard, metal and stone.

'Nature's Artistry, Autumn's Edge'

‘Release Garden’ - “is inspired by the music of Wagner and it explores the way in which gardens, like music, can affect people both physically and emotionally. The garden follows a pattern often found in classical music: a symphonic build up, then a sense of release followed by a point of calm”.

It started at a path lined with logs….

'Release Garden' the entrance

….and finished with a pool. This was one of my favourite gardens.

'Release Garden' the conclusion

‘Narratives of Nature’ – “shows how a contemporary scheme can be a setting for a wealth of edible plants, which are usually seen as intruders into our gardens. Many of the plants are native, and provide food for insects, birds, as well as people”.

'Narratives of Nature'

‘Welcome’ – “is planted with nectar-rich flowers such as lavender, scabious and verbena to extend a welcome to butterflies. It is inspired by the fragility of man’s relationship with nature and invites us to ask why we are prepared to put that delicate balance at risk”.

'Welcome'

Whether I like or dislike a garden it is always fun to view them. If you are near enough to visit these gardens please do. They are worth a look.

Those of you further afield will have to make  do with my two posts and the Future Gardens  website!

We went with two friends and all four of us were bowled over by the wild flower planting which covers acres and acres of the site including the sides of the access road. The Digger almost ran off the road as he couldn’t keep his eyes off the flowers!

Wild flowers

Wild flowers

Wild flower

Wild flower

Wild flower

Wild flower

Wild flower

Wild flower

I haven’t a clue what their names are so any help would be appreciated. I’ve never seen a display like it and we were so pleased that we had seen it at its best. Here is part of a walk which leads up to a Giant Ant!

Wild flowers, Ant and Globe

Parts of the site are still uncompleted including some paths and the main butterfly attraction which is going to be a huge glass dome for tropical butterflies. In the meanwhile visitors have to make do with a small display. Small or not who can resist butterflies.

Temporary Tropical Butterfly House

Tree Nymph

Owl Butterfly snacking on an orange

There is also a garden outside for British Butterflies, which will include a glass dome and a lake nearby.

Part of the British Butterfly Garden

You can see that there is still some work to be done but we found it interesting to see the project in its early stages.

View from the British Butterfly Garden

I am guessing that this is where the Tropical Butterfly House will be built, below a large viewing platform which presently houses the Temporary Butterfly display I’ve shown above. At present there is a large silhouette of a butterfly marking the spot.

Site of Tropical Butterfly Dome

If you want to visit now is a good time as there is a  2 for 1 offer on. Don’t be put off by the fact that it is unfinished. There is a cafe and a shop…..and a plant sales area!!!!! Yes I bought 3 plants. There was quite a nice selection but I resisted overbuying. Mostly because the 4 of us took up most of the car space. Safety in numbers!

The Garden of the Rose run by the Royal National Rose Society  is on an adjoining site so you can admire the roses after you have had your fill of display gardens, butterflies and wild flowers.

Garden of The Rose next door

I’ll post about the Future Gardens as soon as I can.