Thursday, July 31, 2008

Tatton Park 2008:Quirky Containers And Other Things

The last post about Tatton Park shows the other things. There were new displays of Rural Crafts, and Rural Skills. The Floristry competition was held there, but its not something i wanted to see. I visited the rural crafts tent, and the rural skills tent. I bought a frog wall hanger with notepad and pencil.
The penguins greeted us as we entered the grounds.They were meant to be fun in their snowy environment contrasting to the 28 degrees centigrade weather.Their display was called Chill Out and was the British Protected Ornamentals groups.They did the chinese dragon last year im sure..

One half of the chill out Penguins.

Outside the Floral Marquee was this model Elephant. Large Art sculptures and forms were dotted around the grounds. I saw a few of them.The Art dealers, sculptors, painters, and other artists were present between the horticultural sundrys on sale.

One unexpected highlight was the quirky containers competition ran for primary schools within the north west.The amount of ingenuity to make planting containers from whatever was lying around.This one was a piano, with grass on the seat..

Baby plants going for a ride in a pram?

The plants were thirsty here, and displayed in drinking water dispenser.

Daisy the Cow made from milk cartons on a tractor was pulling two carts full of plants..

An old school desk liked the ones I used to sit on..a just william school boy figure sits scarecrow like.

Just for the taste of it..Coke.Held together by sellotape and on a decorated board.you can make containers with many items to hold soil to grow plants in.

Pots, shoes, and bowls on a wooden pallett here.Some parents or teachers are missing a shoe now.

This was cool, a Mad Hatters Tea Set with the plants in the tea cups and sugar bowls.I like the Strawberry table cloth and the drawing in the background.
A lot of the show was focused on children and familys, growing vegetables for the five a day.Its nice to see how well they took on the challenge of a quirky container garden.
These school children may contain a Chelsea flower show garden designer in the future.the seeds were sown at a young age.

These looked so real standing near to the show gardens.Music was played in the bandstand throughout every day of the show.Everywhere you looked art was on display..

Garden ornaments for sale.I love the wild boar and the elfen figures playing some merry music.Every thing you could need to buy for a garden was there. Country Living magazine had its marquee with clothes, jewelry, etc..

A seahorse outside the Rural Crafts tent..

Finally the last photo.Flower power!These large resin models were for sale for painting.The green elephant looks on.The gun has been twisted shut and the flowers protude from the blunt barrell.
I hope that gives an idea of some of what was there at the Tatton Park RHS flower show.The tagline is Ideas that make your garden grow.
There were an awful lot of ideas here in the sunshine.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing all these photos from Tatton Park. I love the whimsy of the salvaged containers.

And congratulations on how terrific your own garden is looking. No one would ever guess that you began gardening there such a short time ago.

Georgina said...

hey dave, these look great fun! what are you going to put in your garden?

David (Snappy) said...

Hi Claire,thanks for your comment.I did like the fun of the quirky containers.There seems to be a surge in schools growing vegetables and flowers as projects, and school gardening clubs are booming.They teach the children about nature,insects, and where food comes from.This generation will have more garden designers, maybe a few Chelsea rhs flower show gold medal winners.Started from young age..
Hi Jaws,I only have chili plants to put into the garden temporarily.I do not have room for more plants.The garden is full to bursting now.

Anonymous said...

Loved the containers. I have friends who make fashions out of trash--maybe the soda can container can inspire them.

Usually, I'm horrified by instruments used as anything but instruments--but that grassy-seated piano erupting with plants is truly great!

Thanks for showing these highlights.

David (Snappy) said...

Thanks Pomona,I loved the Piano as a plant container.Most of them were growing on it so once they were done the Piano could be played again.
The sheet music was An English country garden :)
Will look to see if you blog your friends creations from Coke cans.