Hampton Court Palace had beguiling views of its stunning herbaceous borders from across the water, a spectacular background for the largest flower show in the world, this year 2011 there was an eclectic array of styles and themes.

`The Edible Garden`  lived up to its name,  rows of mouthwatering vegetables, flowers, beehives and the biggest cabbages .  A gaggle of geese made themselves at home in the pond, alongside a hedgerow of food for foraging, a mixture of trees and plants offering edible fruits.   The vineyard was planted with wild flowers and roses which by attracting pests and diseases keep them of the young growing vines.  Olive trees  for fruiting as well as being ornamental were planted with flowering lavender.  There was a hop garden with the hops picked in the traditional way by men on stits.  The fruit and nut orchard was humming with bees on a perfect summer day.

`Excuse me while I kiss the sky` was a garden that encouraged you to look upwards, as plants dangled overhead.   We were not sure about the practicality of plants grown upside down, but it looked pretty sensational in the design, a silver globe, surrounded by blue agapanthas.

The other garden featured here  is "A Garden by Night".  Lighting is not always a priority in garden plans, but if incorporated, it can be wonderfully dramatic, trees and water acquire a magical and mirrored quality. Lighting in a garden can seem to make hot summer evenings  go on for ever.  We loved the illuminatiion of the polished sandstone stepping stones, so effective against the dark water, and also acting as an alert, warning partygoers there is water in the dark.

Perhaps the most poignant garden was "Enduring Freedom" a garden that explored the contrast between the harsh Afghan landscape against a more traditional western one, highlighting the number of casualties caused by (IEDs) Improvised Exposed Devices.  We found this a deeply thought provoking garden.

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