Nearby is Tip Of The Iceberg, a clever rock garden made of recycled fridges filled with alpine plants and surrounded by a sea of glass chips.
Designed by John Esling and Caroline Tait, John assured me that the fridges were not brand new: “We polished them up!” he said, and showed me a fridge with stickers still on it that they couldn’t pull off.
Several of the show gardens are mixed in with the Conceptual Gardens, including Matthew Child’s Ecover Garden that won Best In Show. Its message is that water is life, and it is in the centre of the Ecover Inspire Zone that features Low Cost High Impact small gardens that are full of good ideas that can be used at home.
If you don’t turn right up Ditton Avenue, but follow the path that runs parallel with The Long Water canal, you can visit the RHS Butterfly Dome with Eden.
This is full of exotic plants as well as butterflies, and is particularly interesting for families, with things for children to do.
There are lots of demonstrations and talks in the nearby Celebrity Speakers Catwalk In Bloom Theatre, and the Growing Tastes marquee next to it, but if you want to escape the afternoon heat I would recommend the Floral Marquee on the other side of The Long Water.
While temperatures outside were in the high 20s yesterday it remained cool and sweetly scented.
As always it is a feast of colour with everybody’s favourite plants in eye-catching displays: lavender, lupins and lilies are among the most impressive, but one of the most interesting displays is Squire’s Legacy Of Jekyll (www.squiresgardencentres.co.uk), which cleverly illustrated Gertrude Jekyll’s pioneering informal style.
It is quite an achievement in such a tiny space, and all with plants easily available to 21st century gardeners.
Also this side of the water is the Plant Heritage Marquee, officially opened by the Countess of Wessex yesterday, and lots of specialist nursery stalls selling a huge array of tempting plants.
My favourite garden? They are all well designed and beautifully planted but two along Ditton Avenue were particularly poignant: A Moveable Feast highlights the experience of Army families that find it hard to put down roots because they have to move continually. Old Army boots planted up brought home the message wittily.
Then there was Athanasia, a woodland garden designed by David Sarton in memory of horticultural photographer, wife and mother, Emma Peios, who died from leukaemia last year.
“Athanasia is a place for reflection, rest and a celebration of the beauty of nature,” says David in his publicity leaflet. And that’s really what gardening is all about.
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