Homebuildlife: Hampton Court Flower Show

WGSN-homebuildlife has just returned from the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show, the largest flower show in the world, running from July 5-10 just outside of London. Show gardens and conceptual gardens animate the landscape while plant, flower and garden product developers offer a huge array of living ideas for avid gardeners and amateurs alike. Here are the first few glimpses of some key elements at this year's Hampton Court.

The RHS Grow Your Own garden was a huge exhibition intended to inspire people to grow their own fruits and vegetable. The plants were displayed in the most aesthetic way possible, offering decorative leeks and other vegetables, as well as cranberries that can be grown in a garden basket, for urban apartment dwellers keen on making their own cranberry sauce this autumn.

The Garlic Farm won the prize for the best Grow Your Own Exhibition. A hut constructed of garlic heads was set in a field of garlic blossoms. A fantastic variety of garlic bulbs was on sale, from elephant garlic to smoked garlic, for eating and planting.

Garden huts are a big trend this year, with a wide range of structures bringing the living and dining room outdoors for a cozy yet sophisticated desert island luxury feel.

Taking the indoor concept of a mezzanine outdoors to the garden is a new trend we are noticing in urban areas. This creates a multiplicity of spaces and indoor-outdoor rooms.

One of the most spectacular gardens was the award-winning "I am Because of Who We Are" garden sponsored by CDN consular services. This garden was notable for its use of rusted metal, an upcoming garden trend...

The ongoing trend for suspended gardens was well represented by the "Excuse Me While I Kiss the Sky" garden by Bestique Design, featuring Boskke's Recycled Sky Planters.

And the nascent trend towards hydroponic urban gardening was spectacularly demonstrated by David Domoney's "Naked Garden". His idea was to expose the beauty of naked roots and to promote soilless culture. The transparent garden furniture was well chosen to fit with the clear containers.

In plants and flowers themselves, one key trend throughout the show was very vivid brights mixed with dark backgrounds.

This colour range of alstromerias was particularly eye-catching:

Fiery orange-red--the same shade that was so widespread at the Milan Furniture Fair, was very notable across the show, for example with these crocosmias.

Last but not least, the horti-culturalists at HBL "discovered" a variety of orchid they had never seen before, the simply spectacular Disa, in an amazing array of fluorescent colours.