All sorts of photocalls go on at the Press Day for Hampton Court Flower Show. Small happenings burst into life every 15 minutes in various gardens - and always, it seems, in those furthest away from each other. Keen plantsmen wanting to see James Wong and Paul Hervey-Brookes with very rare plants in the Plant Heritage tent at 12 pm (Grow Zone) would have been hard pressed to reach the presentation for Rose of Year in the Floristry Marquee (Escape Zone) by 12.15.
When I first attended I had the tyro's feeling that I should attend as many events as possible and frequently found myself at the back of a crowd of burly photographers with very long lenses, some on stepladders, while I craned my neck, trying to remember which celebrity I was meant to be excited by.
I'm much more sanguine now. If I come across a happening, then it's generally serendipitous. Here's a view of the moments and people I chanced on yesterday.
Come with me and...
The E was decorated with a design by Orla Keily (very retro).
Shame the rest of it was the wrong colour...
He had a long way to go with that green!
All sorts of well known faces were rumoured to be attending: Christopher Biggins, Bill Bailey, John Hurt, Sir Trevor Macdonald. Personally, I can always rely on Mike Read to walk past.
Hair a tad longer than last year, perhaps?
Meanwhile, over at The Flintknapper's Garden, A Story of Thetford, they had a real, live flintknapper!
Remember I mentioned the Floristry Tent?
Will you be mine?
Oh, no, wait... I was meant to give you this. Stick the flowers in, so I don't look completely daft! Rose expert Phil Harkness presents Chris Warner with an engraved crystal vase for winning Rose of the Year 1915 with For Your Eyes Only.
At the Quiet Mark Garden, David Domoney and helper were upstaged by basketloads of doves:
If the lovely lady is someone famous, could you let me know?
Some things were just bizarre. Here, New England cranberry farmer Adrienne Mollor stood among floating berries on the Long Water, to drip fruit through her fingers.
In A Space to Connect and Grow, they were providing more traditional entertainment in the form of music and poetry:
All in all, it was a long day, with some more rested than others:
"Post it on Facebook!" jested a passer-by. I thought I'd put it here instead.
...Landscape Juice Network
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