Celebrating all things pink

* I was invited to the Gardeners’ World Live show and provided with a pair of tickets to the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

This garden designed by Samantha Stringer, and to give it its full title - Think, all things pink, is an absolute winner. While it was awarded a Gold medal at the show I think I’d have awarded it higher. It’s a great ode to pink in all its shades and it was designed ‘to inspire the use of a single colour when planting’ and it definitely does that, though I think MOH might raise an eyebrow or two if he knew that was my plan for our own garden, but it shows how effective using a single colour can be.

And who knew that so many shades of pink could live so harmoniously together?

Pink encourages the feeling of strength and boldness according to the blurb board next to the garden, and the different tones add depth and interest, as do the different shaped flower heads.

I’d quite happily be sold, but I do like a bit of big and I absolutely love dense planting like this. I know it’s a show garden and all that, but I’d love my borders to be so fully stocked, when I get to them that is. Though I have a plan, which is to buy the plants now and grow them on so that I can split them as they’re planted so getting (at least) two plants for the price of one, and getting to enjoy them right now.

Or that’s my excuse for my current uptick in plant buying!

I love the attention to detail in this garden, and I love these pastel striped dahlias - but look more closely at the picture and you’ll notice pink edged raffle tickets for the plants which had already been bought by those visiting on the last day of the show.

Ah more dahlias, these spiky petalled sort remind me of the ones dad grew in our childhood garden, back then I probably thought they were terribly old fashioned and dated. But now I love them so clearly the flowers are back on trend, not that I’ve become terribly old fashioned and dated!

I mentioned the attention to detail earlier, and here’s another example - with the designer wearing what other colour, than a beautiful dusky pink.

I guess if you’re going in, you’re best to go all in - and what an absolute triumph of a garden to close out my posts from the 2025 show. I’m going along to the show next month and can’t wait to see and to share the delights and inspiration available this year.

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was quite a show! I hope you’ve enjoyed the posts from my visit to the 2025 show as much as I enjoyed the show - I’m already looking forward to what’s in store from this year’s show next month.

Enjoying the Golden Hour

* I was invited to the Gardeners’ World Live show and provided with a pair of tickets to the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

I’m not sure if it’s just because I’ve recently finished my pink and orange embroidered pouch, but I seem to be talking a lot on here about my favourite colour scheme of pink, orange and yellow. And that’s continuing with this beautiful border from the 2025 show.

I didn’t realise it at the time - the pink and orange genes clearly run deep - but I suspect that’s what drew me to this space designed by Ellen Tozer, that and the magnificent planting.

But first that arch, it would truly feel like you were entering a different space walking through that wouldn’t it? And that could be just what the designer intended as the accompanying blurb says this “is a space for reconnecting with your true self and escaping from the hustle of daily life.”

No doubt you’ve gathered from its name that its inspired by the golden sunrise and sunset hours, but there’s also three key features in this garden which encourage daydreaming and letting go.

They’re the warm earthy tones of the flowers and foliage in hues of amber and orange, which is proven in promoting relaxation. The wild and free planting encourages you to reject formality and adopt a more relaxed approach, and that circular arch is to signify the sun and renewal - so not the stepping through it to a new, more chilled you as I thought - though I still think it’d be pretty chill to have something like this in a garden.

But it was really the planting that I was drawn to.

It’s just glorious and full of flowers that I already love, and some of which I have or have been acquiring for my garden. I have foxgloves, though I’m not sure I’ve seen any evidence of them this year; I have an astrantia too, though mine is the paler white/pink version but seeing these deep burgundy flowers I think I need some of these too. They are really beautiful flowers aren’t they?

I also have an iris that is similarly coloured to the one photographed above, though I missed it flowering last year as that coincided with our holiday, so l I hope there’ll be a repeat this year. I haven’t checked on this either - my focus in my garden at the moment is weeds, and getting rid of them - but it’s still snug in its overwintering sheltered half-in/half-out of the bush position, and is getting ready to put on flowers just as beautiful as these again this year.

Fingers crossed.

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was quite a show! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to this year’s show throughout the year - I hope you enjoy them as much as I did the show.

Discovering the Wallace Line Garden

* I was invited to the Gardeners’ World Live show and provided with a pair of tickets to the show, therefore all my posts will be marked as 'Ad’ though as usual my views and opinions are very much my own.

One of the things I like about the gardens at Gardeners’ World is the history or thinking behind the garden which is often the inspiration for the designers. In this case Dave Hodson Gardens, the designer for the ‘Wallace Line’ garden took inspiration from the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace who travelled the Malay Archipelago collecting plants for scientific research for this formal central canal garden with a twist.

Wallace developed a therory of Natural Selection at the same time as Charles Darwin and also hypothesised about an imaginary line between otherwise close islands which seemed to have completely different species of plants and animals.

This show garden recreates a representation of this line in the long pool and features a Jungle style planting on one side of the line and a a Savannah/Desert style on the other, using the plants shown in the image below.

Now we know the Wallace Line is a result of Plate Tectonics bringing together areas on which Asian and Australasian species had developed separately, which just goes to show that quite often, or sometimes at least, we know what we know even if we can’t prove it at the time!

It’s an interesting approach for me as it shows how you can combine two distinct styles of planting in one garden, and the information board also said that it makes the point “that once you have crossed the line from one eco system to another, there is no going back” which when you think about it, it really makes you think.

I was keen to see how the two distinct styles worked together, and I think they do, as I’m still toying with the idea of three zones for planting in our garden, those being cottage garden style, a productive garden and more exotic plants. I can visualise it in my mind’s eye, but I need to work out a way to get it down on paper in a way that MOH and potential garden designers can also understand.

The ongoing and ultimate challenge! I know where I need help with my idea is how the spaces connect with each other without looking like three different gardens! I’ll get there, and I just need to spend some either drawing it out, or cutting and sticking various pictures - and I think the latter will be quicker, even though it won’t look as nice.

But as this garden demonstrates, it is possible to have a cohesive garden with two distinct planting styles - it’s also given me hope that while my idea may not be the ‘norm’, it’s something worthwhile pursuing. Wish me luck!

* With thanks to Gardeners’ World for inviting me to Gardeners’ World Live, it was quite a show! I’ll be sharing more from my visit to this year’s show throughout the year - I hope you enjoy them as much as I did the show.