Gardener’s World Live 2016: Floral Marquee

Inside the Floral Marquee at the Gardener's World Live Floral Marquee, June 2016 One of my favourite parts of the Gardener’s World Live exhibition is the Floral Marquee – here are my picks from this year’s show. I’ve already written a post about my Show Highlights (click here for that), and I’ve also covered the Show Gardens in another post. In this post, I’m going to pick out my favourite exhibits from the Floral Marquee. As you can imagine, it’s going to be another picture-heavy post, but I think it’s worth including so many because there were some gorgeous flowers and plants on display. I’ve been trying to start using the manual settings on my camera, so fingers crossed you’ll like my pictures! The first display I saw in the marquee was this gorgeous mountain of lilies from Hart’s Nursery: Hart's Nursery Lilies display inside the Floral Marquee at the Gardener's World Live Floral Marquee, June 2016 The scent from these blooms was absolutely amazing, I always love the Hart’s Nursery display. Nearby I saw this beautiful Dahlia Christopher Taylor, which attracted a lot of attention on both days that I was at the show. Dahlia Christopher Taylor inside the Floral Marquee at the Gardener's World Live Floral Marquee, June 2016 It appears to be out of stock online, so might be one to bookmark for next year. Moving along, my eye was caught by this gorgeous Clematis Picard, just one of many I saw at the show. Clematis Picard inside the Floral Marquee at the Gardener's World Live Floral Marquee, June 2016 In previous years I have come away from the Floral Marquee with a couple of different lilies and a rose bush from David Austin. But David Austin didn’t exhibit this year and I’m a bit nervous about adding more lilies to the garden as they are poisonous to dogs. Fuschias Chantelle Garcia and Hannah Louise inside the Floral Marquee at the Gardener's World Live Floral Marquee, June 2016So I went for something a little different this year. I have always loved fuschias but we don’t have any in our garden. Potash Nursery had a gorgeous display of fuschias on their stand, which received a gold medal. My eye was caught by the brighter colours of Fuschia Chantelle Garcia, but I also loved the delicate shades of the flower on Fuschia Hannah Louise. Eventually I decided to go with the paler shades, I’ve still got my eye on Chantelle Garcia for the future though! My ideal garden is definitely the English Country Garden style, I love the look of flower beds absolutely filled with colourful flowers. These pretty violas fit the bill perfectly, and I loved this display. A beautiful display of violas inside the Floral Marquee at the Gardener's World Live Floral Marquee, June 2016 They don’t really fit in our garden at the moment, but I definitely have dreams of filling a border with this kind of flower one day. Zantedeschia White Flirt inside the Floral Marquee at the Gardener's World Live Floral Marquee, June 2016Another flower that I love is the Zantedeschia – you may also know it as the Calla Lily. We’ve bought the from Gardener’s World Live in the past, but never had any great success with them. Brighter Blooms had a pretty gorgeous display on their stand (as usual!) which won a Platinum award. I love this classic white Zantedeschia White Flirt, it looks so elegant.   Zantedeschia Captain Marrero also caught my eye, I love the blush around the edges of the flower. My real favourites though are always the black Zantedeschia. The photo at the bottom of the page features Zantedeschia Memories, and the really dark colours are always so striking. Zantedeschia Captain Marrero inside the Floral Marquee at the Gardener's World Live Floral Marquee, June 2016 While I was in the Floral Marquee on Saturday, I spent some time looking at the bonsai stands as well. The North of England Bonsai stand was beautiful as always, and was awarded a Platinum medal by the Gardener’s World Live judges (there was no RHS at the show this year). A stunning Rhododendron bonsai tree on the North of England Bonsai stand inside the Floral Marquee at the Gardener's World Live Floral Marquee, June 2016 I’ve seen this stunning Rhododendron at the show for the last few years, it’s so pretty! The South Staffordshire Bonsai Society also won Platinum, and their stand was the one that impressed me most. As well as stunning trees like this Chinese Juniper, the stand also featured some lovely accent planting. A stunning Chinese Juniper tree on the South Staffs Bonsai Society stand in the Floral Marquee at the Gardener's World Exhibition, June 2016 Accent plants are smaller plants which are often displayed alongside bonsai trees. They are used to show some of the other plants that might be found around the tree in its natural setting.  This rhodohypoxis is a nice example of accent planting. Rhodohypoxis accent planting on the South Staffs Bonsai Society stand inside the Floral Marquee at the Gardener's World Live Floral Marquee, June 2016 New to the Floral Marquee this year was the Rose Festival, which featured a group of rose nurseries. As I mentioned above, David Austin Roses were not there – so I didn’t come away with my planned purchase of another Lady Emma Hamilton rose bush. I was quite taken by the Rose ‘Nostalgia’ on the Pocock Roses stand though – the colours are so pretty! Rose 'Nostalgia' on the Pococks Nursery stand inside the Floral Marquee at the Gardener's World Live Floral Marquee, June 2016 And just as I was leaving the Floral Marquee, I spotted this eye-catching display on the Primrose Hall Nursery stand. Peonies are some of my very favourite flowers, and these were beautiful – I could just imagine relaxing on that chaise longue with a good book!An eye-catching display of Peonies on the Primrose Hall Nursery stand inside the Floral Marquee at the Gardener's World Live Floral Marquee, June 2016

I hope you’ve enjoyed my tour around the Gardener’s World Live Floral Marquee.

Take a look at the beautiful plants and flowers on show inside the Floral Marquee at the Gardener's World Live Floral Marquee, June 2016