Ian has no social media presence at all. Nothing. He doesn’t get it. Especially when visiting an open garden in Somerset when I saw from a distance someone making a bee line for him. Apparently she had recognised him from my Instagram posts. Which if you follow me you will know quite how hard that would be.

The majority of the photos are taken from ten feet behind him and rarely are there any of us together. What’s this go to do with this blog? . I tell him he doesn’t know what he’s missing. Yes. You can go down that rabbit hole if you aren’t careful and never should you get into a Twitter spat. It’s just not worth it.

But. Through social media I have made friends. Friends in real life. Friends who have introduced me to others. Which brings me to the point. I wouldn’t have been at Hampton Court Flower Festival on the Master Growers stand had I not met Georgie from Common Farm Flowers Who introduced me to Lou Archer from Arches at the Larches. Who in turn introduced me to Todds Botanics and Mark and Emma MacDonald.

I had helped at RHs Chelsea in 2019 on Todd’s stand working with Lou as part of the Poo Crew. Manning the stand and selling plants and Poo. Some would say talking it too. In case you thought I’d made up the poo crew ~ Here’s our money bag. Nothing like poo advertising. Lou is the Queen of Poo. She has 21 alpaca and they all work for their living. Great dried and liquid alpaca feed. I’m already a fan and it works wonders in my garden. If it’s good enough for the nursery it’s good enough for me!

Plans were to return again the following year. But we know what happened next. No Chelsea in 2020 and Todds made the decision not to show in 2021.

Each year The RHS announces Master Growers for the shows and this year Todds was announced for the RHS Hampton Court Flower Festival and I was happy that I was allowed to be part of team again. So delighted I cut my trip to Spain back by a week. That’s dedication but it’s not something I’d miss. I can go to Spain whenever. It’s only the once I get to be on the Master Grower stand.

Meet Mark MacDonald. This years Master Grower for RHS Hampton Court Flower Show. You won’t usually find Mark in such a colourful flowery shirt. There is a story.

I met Mark three years ago for the first time when I helped on the stand. On day three I caught him rolling his eyes at a T-shirt I was wearing. A bit flowery. To be honest even for me. But it was Chelsea. We were selling plants. And poo. Later that week I told Mark I had seen him roll his eyes and he’d better be aware that should I get asked back I’d find him something suitable to wear. For the last three years whenever I’ve seen something awful clothes wise I messaged him. ‘ what about this?’ To be fair I’ve only sent him awful pictures. So awful I wouldn’t have worn them. Not even in the dark.

So it started as a joke but I did get him this shirt and to his credit and my surprise he wore it. But sensibly not for filming. With hindsight we should have sat alongside the beautiful pots from Vaso Toscano. Gorgeous Italian pots. Reminds me of The flowerpot Men. Bill & Ben. Someone said where’s weed. Trust me. There were none.

I’ve set myself another challenge for next time. He said that it wasn’t as bad as he was expecting! That’s a fail on my part. I should have got the matching shorts. That way I’d never be asked back.

The stand was beautifully designed and planted by Emma “ Mrs Todds” and Julie from the nursery. The Master Grower stand isn’t judged by the RHS committee but my medal would have been Diamond. It ticked all my boxes but hey. I’m not a judge. But the colours and the combinations were fabulous. The planting of dahlia alongside agapanthus and canna were stunning. What I like about these plantings is that they are achievable in your own gardens. Whole beds or sections or plant combinations.

This was a fabulous colour and planting combination. The gorgeous Dahlia Totally Tangerine with Canna Durban. The colours of the dahlia flower against the lovely colours of the canna leaf are a treat. Throw in a bit of verbena bonariensis and it’s magical. And it’s achievable.

Canna were a feature of the display with Tropicana Black, Durban, Pretoria, Annei and what had a huge interest was Canna Cleopatra.

I just wish the leaves on mine were as perfect as these. I had to keep reminding myself that I don’t have a show garden. Or the patience or skills to get there!

One canna that had a lot of interest was Canna Annei. From Todds Botanics website “ Canna ‘Annei’ is a lovely old variety bred in France in the 19th century. Annei is a very tall Canna Lily reaching above 2M. The flowers are a pale peach and are very pretty, almost delicate looking, they waft above the tall stems and slender leaves.” It really is a stunner. I bought one two years ago and it’s in a pot in the front garden in London. It’s a favourite of mine.

Let’s talk Dahlia. When I was growing up my parents grew dahlia. Nothing like the ones we have these days. But they had a few. I hated them as they were full of earwigs. If I was asked to pick them I’d always shake the the flowers to get rid of the earwigs. I’d get into trouble as I would shake them so hard I would snap the heads off. I’ve grown to love them following getting flowers from Georgie at Common Farm Flowers. Mark & Emma had varieties I’d not seen before. But I will again as some have found their way to my garden!

Dahlia Fired up was a stunner. Friquolet like a raspberry ripple. To be honest I’m not a lover of yellow dahlia but Holywell Lemon ice was a beauty. Two out of the three will be in my garden.

Throw in Honka Fragile. Totally tangerine. Sam Hopkins and Grenadier a Bishop of Auckland and big love and you have some stunning dahlia with a great colour mix. Oh. I forgot David Howard and Karen. Another hotly requested plant.

The stand also had the gorgeous pots of Vaso Toscano ~ one planted with Friquolet and salvia Amistad just at the entrance to the stand. A pretty eye catching combination. Great hand made Italian terracotta.

I’m not a gardener. I garden and I’m always in awe of how gardeners and garden designers plant. I’ve never been a lover of grasses until recently so I loved the planting of the grasses in the beds here. They softened the large dark leaves with structure and movement. Stipia Gigantea was a huge interest to many people. ( but a nightmare to photograph so I didn’t).

It always amazes me at the shows how quickly the bees find you. The single flower on Dahlia Roxy was buzzing. A great pollinator for the garden.

This photo shows how colourful the planting was on the stand. A mix of the dahlia and canna. Agapanthus and grasses.

As Master Growers the stand has photograph of the nursery and of Mark & Emma and a video on continuous loop taken at the nursery. It’s an interesting insight into their work at the nursery.

There is a lovely segment on Gardeners World with an interview on the stand with Joe Swift which is definitely worth a catch up on BBC iPlayer.