Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden: Blog

Chelsea Flower Show 2022 - In the Sun

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 12:48:33 GMT

My images are also on my Instagram: Anna Omiotek-Tott (@annatottphoto) • Instagram photos and videos

In this part of my Chelsea Flower Show 2022 memories blog, I am going to focus sunny gardens with lots of ideas to take home, with themes of sustainability, rewilding and attracting pollinators, focusing on natural plant communities.

Hope you will enjoy looking into the sunny gardens I have chosen and photographed with my Nikon cameras (Nikon Z7II, Nikon Z6 and Nikon Z750 with Zeiss 100mm f2 macro lens).

The Stitchers' Garden by Frederic Whyte

The Stitchers Garden Design: Frederick Whyte Sponsor: Fine Cell WorkBuilt by: Champain Landscapes

It sported herbaceous parterre filled with restful and calming but colourful pastel planting combinations in pale yellow, soft pinks and cream. I loved the candy-red of Peonies and light yellows of Aquilegia growing together.

The RNLI Garden by Chris Beardshow The RNLI Garden by Chris Beardshow

The RNLI Garden - Designer: Chris Beardshaw
Sponsor: Project Giving Back
Contractor: Chris Beardshaw Ltd
Website: chrisbeardshaw.com

We could admie Georgian, classically inspired green oak pavilion at the rear with costal planting in a pastel cool and restul palette of whites, blues and pinks, and trees including Ulmus parvifolia and Pinus sylvestris, the traditional lifeboat building materials.

The Mind Garden Project Giving Back - Designer: Andy Sturgeon https://www.andysturgeon.com/
Contractor: Crocus (Gold)

Sculptural rough-textured walls comprise generous swathes of colourful meadow planting. I was happy to see Opium poppies, the like of them self-seeding in our allotment, helping to attract bees and other pollinators, among other beautiful wild flowers in rainbow colour among flowing Stipa grasses.

A Rewilding Britain Landscape- Designers: Lulu Urquhart and Adam Hunt
Sponsor: Project Giving Back
Contractor: Landscape Associates
Chelsea history: First Chelsea
Website: urquarthunt.com

Yet anotehr real-life like recreation of beautiful natural landscape, the winner of the show, and justified fully! A naturally re-wilded landscape in south west England, with a brook flowing through a copse of hawthorn, hazel and field maple beside a winding West-Country stone wall. Pity the real wild beavers were not present :)

The New Blue Peter Garden- Discover Soil - Designer: Juliet Sargeant
Sponsor: Project Giving Back
Contractor: Gardenlink
Chelsea history: 2016 (Gold and People’s Choice)
Website: julietsargeant.com

I was captivated by vibrant golden and orange (Alstroemria ) planting with blue accents reflecting the colours of Blue Peter. Lovely ideas to bring home including a roof with meadow planting. The garden was relocated to RHS Bridgewater after the show.

The St Mungo's Putting Down Roots Garden- Designers: Cityscapes - Darryl Moore and Adolfo Harrison
Sponsor: Project Giving Back
Contractor: Garden Link
Chelsea history: First Chelsea
Website: cityscapes.org.uk

This joyous town space mini- park garden used recycled materials creating colourful boundaries and seating areas with natural plant communities with textural foliage and floral accents in huge colourful planters in pink and orange It’s permanent location is now in London Bridge

A Garden Sanctuary by Hamptons, designed by Tony Woods
Beautiful seating area surrounded by woodland planting, rained aon as it was such a common occurance at last's year show. Hope for better weatehr this year!

Chelsea Flower Show 2022 - Woodland

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 13:08:04 GMT

My images are also on my Instagram: Anna Omiotek-Tott (@annatottphoto) • Instagram photos and videos

In the second part of my Chelsea Flower Show memories blog, I am going to focus on the shady planting, often overlooked for more eye-catching sun loving plants, looking for more unusual aspects.Hope you will enjoy looking into the gardens I have chosen with me and my Nikon cameras (Nikon Z7II, Nikon Z6 and Nikon Z750 with Zeiss 100mm f2 macro lens).

From The Boodles Travel Garden

The Boodles Travel Garden. Designer: Thomas Hoblyn

Hostas, Fern and Epimedium textured planting in a gold meadal awarded sanctuary garden It is often worh to get down on your knees to see the picturesque textural groundcover planting under teh trees.

MEDITE SMARTPLY Building the Future - Designer: Sarah Eberle saraheberle.com Contractor: Landform Consultants - Best Construction Award
This gold winning forest edge garden with damp-loving, rare and wild species of flora native to the forests of Southern Ireland. Looking at the fascinating waterfall it was easy to miss the tiny jewels of planting chidden in cracks and cervices.

The Plantsman’s Ice Garden Design: John Warland

The garden included a monolithic melting 15 tonne ice cube, surrounding a botanical bounty with birch trees, ferns and blue Iris flowers. Loved the contrast of the tapestry of light-green foliage and delicate flowersand the cool white iceblocks of the cube.

The Mind Garden by Andy Sturgeon

Designer: Andy Sturgeon andysturgeon.com Sponsor: Project Giving Back Contractor: Crocus (Gold)

The woodland part of the garden sported this hideout beautifully carved sculptural wooden benches lit by evening sun. Sometimes is s just looking for the light that creates a spectacle on the garden and magical moments like this.

Morris&Co by Ruth Willmott

Morris&Co gold winning garden Designer: Ruth Willmott www.ruthwillmott.com Contractor: Garden Builders

I have included my favourite garden with woodland gardens as parts of it had shade-loving planting with omnipresent blue Iris flowers. The main part was crammed with colour and it was a homage to my favourited pre Arts and Crafts designer, William Morris and two of his famous designs: ‘Trellis’ and ‘Willow Boughs’, inspiring hand crafted metal pavilion at the heart of this garden. Also the shapes which appear in his designs were echoed in the planting : a willow tree, acanthus and hydrangea and a palette of white, blue, green with deep reds and apricots. What always makes me happy is the thought that it will be relocated to community gardens in Islington, close to where Morris & Co designs were first printed.

Morris&Co by Ruth Willmott

Chelsea Flower Show 2022 - Welcome to the Jungle

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 13:17:53 GMT

My images are also on my Instagram: Anna Omiotek-Tott (@annatottphoto) • Instagram photos and videos

Many of the studio After one year in September, the show was back to its traditional May slot and it being a year of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, there was additional sense of excitement and celebration.

There was also a special focus on eco themes connected with global warming and sustainability with small spaces becoming more important for – there were balcony gardens and houseplant studios again this year following from 2021.The Houseplant Studios, showcasing indoor plants, are buildings dressed to promote the benefit of indoor plants and inspire styling of visitors' own indoor spaces. They are gaining popularity for their wellbeing benefits, a sign that people want to make space for nature in their lives, even if they often do not have a garden as many young people do.

So this is the subject I would like to focus more as houseplants are very close to my heart, some 30+ potted green beauties living in my flat, too. And indeed the spaces were lush green and opulent with foliage tropical plants taking main stage.

There were six houseplant and the medals were awarded:

Gold

Malvern Garden Buildings Ltd with Planet Studio
The Planted House with A Room to Dance
The Plant Workshop with The Grass is Greener Where You Water It
Happy Houseplants x The Plant Rescuer with The Plant Clinic

Silver-Gilt

The Aroid Attic with Social Media vs Reality
Close Brothers Asset Management and The Edible Bus Stop with Botanical Rhapsody

And here are some images I took of my favourite spaces

The design of The Plant Clinic was a collaboration between Sarah Gerrard-Jones, the author of 'The Plant Rescuer - The Book Your Houseplants Want You to Read' (Bloomsbury 2022) and the team at Happy Houseplants. Houseplants are often treated as transient items, and if they do not flourish, they are simply dispose so the team focused on showing the public how to make them recover and care better for them, so they stay with us for years. The interactive studio space acted like a huge humid terrarium with tropical plants and mosses with a lush green wall planting as a centrepiece.

The Plant Clinic - the detail of a cabinet showcasing small terrariums.

The Planted House with A Room to Dance
Antonia and Ian Adams's business in Cornwall boasts tropical and sub-tropical indoor plants, as well as beautiful pots. The studio was built by Malvern Garden Buildings and houses a plethora of aerial and climbing sub-tropical plants with rattan woven throughout the space.

Botanical Rhapsody Studio was designed by The Edible Bus Stop and sponsored by Close Brothers Asset Management. Here, like in many of other studios the outside and inside spaces get seamlessly joined through extended patios.

And last but not least the winner. The outside-room with a seating in the 'Planet Studio', designed by James Whiting, is filled with housplants such as Sanseviera trifasciata laurentii, Colocasia, Sarracenia leucophylla and Musa 'Dwarf Cavendish' and a shade sail provides shelter. It was also built by Malvern Garden Buildings.

'Planet Studio' carnival disco-plant-bar deatail from the interior

Clumps of airplants Tillandsia usneoides, resembling tangled hair, on the roof of the studio.

With so many exciting studios shown in 2022, I am really looking forward to see what trends and new plants will be presented this year. Plus a chance to buy your chosen plants on Sunday after the show closes! What a treat!

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021 Part 2 - The Florence Nightingale Garden My Favourite

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 14:20:49 GMT

My favourite garden from Chelsea Flower Show 2021: The Florence Nightingale Garden - A Celebration of Modern-Day Nursing, created by garden designer Robert Myers, to mark the bicentenary of Florence Nightingale’s birthday , will be moved to London’s St Thomas’ Hospital in May 2022. It will be recreated on the upper terrace of the Albert Embankment, with views across the River Thames. The world’s first professional nursing school was established by Florence Nightingale in 1860 in this hospital sop it’s a perfect place for its permanent location. I am always very happy to see the show gardens finding new homes like that. It's a bit melancholy to know that most of the them only exist for a week, more like a performance than a real garden, like short-lived butterflies.

I am also glad to try and and catch ( hopefully) some of the illusive and fleeting beauty in my photographs.

Back to Chelsea after an eight-year absence, Robert Myers, designed the garden to be seen as if stepping into it from the hospital building, like a courtyard garden with a reflecting pool at the back and paths that wind through the planting that include the plants variety found in Florence’s pressed plant collection and many medicinal plants, such as her favourite flower, the foxglove, ferns in shade and drifts of late-flowering perennials and ornamental grasses, such as elegant Verbena bonariensis, Echinacea ( used to enchance immunity!) , giant rhubarb Rheum and Heptacodium miconioides, with scented flowers. There are lost of ideas here to use in your own garden – to create a space that is not only relaxing but with some plants that can be used as herbs to enhance our health.

Betula nigra tree

Heptacodium miconioides, with scented flowers.

A large pergola made from cross-laminated timber

As the birch foliage started turning yellow at the end of the show, thus making my images slightly more Autumn-like than the images taken earlier in the week, with lovely contrast with violet-blue flowers of Eurybia x herveyii, featured in may Chelsea gardens. The light was also different as I photographed the garden soon after 8 am in the morning with a white cloud in the sky, enhancing the colours greatly and making the space look flat in the images, giving it a pastel-like quality. This is possibly why I like this garden so much. I am stating the obvious but very important fact here: what we see and photograph depends on the time we arrive in the garden, as the light changes constantly and the plants do not stay the same, either.

I would like to finish with the presentation by the designer Robert Myers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ty_Ora0dDQ

I am sure the garden will be looking stunning its new hospital home, serving many patients on their way to recovery.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show Blog Series -2021 Part 1

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 19:39:29 GMT

It is March 2022 and a new gardening season is starting. It seems to be a perfect time to reflect on the new trends in garden design so we have some inspiration for new planting and sowing this spring and where would the best examples of the new trends be if not at Chelsea Flower Show?

This year is also a personal anniversary as I have been to Chelsea 10 times before and so I wanted to post a series blogs describing differences and similarities through the years. They will be followed by images from the show on Instagram.

The 2021 show was very special because held in the autumn or the first time in history, not in May but in September It was a different show for me as well - for the first time ever I visited on Sunday, the last day of the show and as a member of pubic so the images you see are taken during the day, standing in a crowd. The gardens seemed more realistic as the plants were not at their best any more, some started finishing flowering so a bit more decay than on the first days, too. I have a game for you to try and spot the flowers that are not a their best!

So let's start with some trends we could see at the show.

The most important continuing trend for a few years now seem to be SUSTAINABLE NATURALISTIC PLNTING with RECLAIMED MATERIALS and REPURPOSING and emphasis on local CRAFTSMEN

The Yeo Valley Organic Garden with mixed borders with ferns, Betula pendula, Astrantia 'Roma', Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Rosea' and 'Blackfield' and rusty steel water feature - Design:Tom Massey, supported by Sarah Mead - Buildt: Landscape Associates - People's Choice Best Show Garden

The trend has been growing for a few years and time we could see even more loose planting as it is good for wildlife and require less maintenance, water or fertilisers and is in effect more sustainable. Yeo Valley garden had organically grown plants in more relaxed planting schemes of the kinds that support wildlife biodiversity. They also used lots of reclaimed materials. Getting as many plants in a space as possible is a good way of to suppressing weeds so no weed killer is needed.

At the Gaze Burvill stand designed by Ann-Marie Powell, the florist Arthur Parkinson had arranged autumnal bee-friendly plants such as single and anemone dahlias, asters and grasses such as red millet, good as food for birds. I got his book in Kindle version : The Flower Yard: Growing Flamboyant Flowers in Containers published in 2021, to look for more inspiration as his floral displays at the show were amazing. The display was not very fresh on the last day of the show when I saw it, adding some additional flow of decadence to the atmosphere.

China: Guangzhou Garden. Designed by Peter Chmiel with Chin-Jung Chen, First-timers winning the Best in Show

The Guangzhou garden shows an example of introducing nature in the city, reconnecting people and natural environment, featuring a woodland space with a calming pool of water surrounded by trees, shrubs and perennials in soft hues of white, blue and yellow.

Sculptural timber pergola is surrounded by mixed planting with Betula nigra with golden Autumn colour, Eurybia x herveyii, with daisy like blue flowers, Calamagrostis and Molinia grasses. Many plants in this garden have strong medicinal properties, used since 19thc. as herbal remedies. Florence Nightingale Garden Celebration of Modern- Day Nursing - Design: Robert Myers - Buildt: Bowles & Wyer- Sponsor: The Burdett Trust for Nursing

The M&G Garden designed by Harris Bugg Studio at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2021, featured a sculpture made from repurposed metal pipes. Planting combination includes Sesleria autumnalis, Eurybia x herveyii, Aster umbellatus, , Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Cassian's, Patrinia punctiflora, Amsonia illustris, and Artemisia lactiflora

NEW CATEGORIES: This year was the first to introduce a container garden category, with each plot only 3x4 meters so very small, and a dedicated balcony garden category.

The Stolen Soul Garden designed by Anna Dabrowska-Jaudi features three huge containers shaped like huge scallops filled with black-dyed, mirror-like pool, a living wall, and a large central amethyst crystal on the back wall.

Hot Tin Roof Garden designed by Ellie Edkins, had big corrugated steel planters and an outdoor shower.

Multi-layered industrial containers with ponds metal seats and forest plants such as Betula pendula, Polystichum setiferum, Asplenium scolopendrium, Dryopteris filix-mas, Dryopteris erythrosora, Astrantia major 'Florence' and Crataegus monogyna in The IBC Pocket Forest-- Design: Sara Edwards. They can create a perfect roof garden.

An old repurposed Indian door in Arcadia, a balcony garden with a seating area surrounded by plant filled containers and a pomegranate tree - Design:Martha Krempel

Sky Sanctuary, designed by Michael Coley in a Balcony Category. Tiny oasis of calm filled with dwarf shrubs, colourful flowers and herbs in planters with seating such as egg chairs, integrated benches and interesting colorful art and murals.

There were also more houseplants at Chelsea flower show in 2021 in carefully arranged HOUSE PLANT STUDIOS.

Calathea plant with decorative foliage at Dobbies stand

Blue star fern - Phlebodium aureum on a living wall at Dobbies stand

Houseplants are more than just a passing trend now as more and more people find it important for their wellbeing to have green things in their homes and want to know more about how to grow and propagate their plants and do it more sustainably. Imaginative ideas included air plants, macramé plant hangers and a fun potting bench.

Time to leave now but there is going to be another blog post on this particularly interesting show next week, when I write more on the planting schemes and individual plant stars of the show. In the meantime I will show related Images on Linked-In, Instagram and Facebook. See you there.

Hampton Court Flower Show Through My Lens

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 21:11:18 GMT

may I present you with a favourite photo ( usually a favourite garden, too !) form each show I have been to. I like Hampton Court Flower show for its being so down-to-earth ( literally, it gets really muddy when it rains ;-), relaxed and very spacious, which makes it less crowded than Chelsea. And you can buy plants in the Flower Marquee!

Hampton Court Flower Show 2017

Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle' surrounding a purpose-made wooden seating. A Place to Meet' Garden. Hampton Court Flower Show, 2017 -Designer: The Association of Professional Landscapers

Hampton Court Flower Show 2016

Hampton Court Flower Show 2015

One of my favourite gardens from this show is the City Twitchers ( Summer Gardens category ) designed by Sarah Keyser and built by Living Landscapes.

It is a beautiful mix of rustic ( wicker ) with stylish ( white and green colour scheme ), all brought together by a modern, well-structured design with sharp and clean hard-landscaping. It looks like a well designed garment, very feminine and elegant. This is a bird-watching environment for any fashion-conscious lady indeed and yet, very relaxed and nature-friendly.

Hampton Court Flower Show 2014

Maybe one more of my favourite garden, The One Show Garden with stunning naturalistic planting combined with drifts of grasses.

And one more garden with beautiful naturalistic planting.

Hampton Court Flower Show 2013

Naturalistic planting in pastel shades with Digitalis. A photo taken with Nikon D800 and Sigma 24-70mm lens.

A winning garden of Hampton Court Flower Show 2012, with stunning naturalistic planting.

The photo was taken with my previous camera Nikon D90 and the kit lens.

Modern Sculpture in Turner’s House

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Thu, 01 Aug 2019 14:08:51 GMT

I have been lucky to photograph an amazing event recently, which took place at Turner's House.

In 1807 already renowned landscape painter JMW Turner, bought a large plot of land in Twickenham and himself designed Sandycombe Lodge to be built there. The house, intended to be a retreat from the London art world, was completed by 1813. It had a view of the Thames and he enjoyed the river for fishing and walks. His father, who also lived there, enjoyed looking after the large garden. Only a part of the garden remains now and the river view has been obstructed too. You could add, "but visitors to the house can see the view Turner would have had through an ingenious telescope!

Still, there is a new attraction to be seen there. Or two of them, to be precise. Two new sculptures, Moon Dial and Solus, by Turner’s House artist in residence Nicky Carvell were unveiled on Sunday 21st July, in a week celebrating the moon landing.
Both works are the culmination of a six month residency, sponsored by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The pieces play with the notion of light passing through coloured surfaces in two translucent sculptures; one is installed in the house and the other is placed in the garden. They cast changing coloured patterns and shadows onto the ground much like a sun dial does. The acrylic curved panels have painted and vinyl elements added ias well as 'sun' and 'moon' at the pinnacle of both works made from metal.

Unveiling of two sculptures was assisted by Turner’s House Trust Honorary Patron Catherine Parry-Wingfield and Eliza Bonham Carter, Head of Schools at the Royal Academy.

Nicky Carvell, the artist who wears clothes she has designed herself, works mostly in digital print with Photoshop as her conduit and aluminium as it's support. Turner’s House Trust were impressed by how Carvell’s own artistic practice had been inspired by J.M.W Turner's fascination with light and appreciation of nature. “I have focused on the house's original name 'Solus Lodge' which references the power of the sun ... as this chimes with my own fascination with light.” She explains, “My work investigates the colour spectrum, it is this aspect of his work which I have explored during the Turner’s House residency.I was very engaged by the way the outside light flows into and through the space, particularly in the beautiful lay light above the upper stairs. This filtering of light through glass provides a feeling of solace and inner warmth.”

The sculptures reflect Turner's early designs of the house as a tower on a hill, his escape and sanctuary from the speed of London. The pieces also give a visual nod to the replicated boat models in the house and the outlines of ships which Turner painted such as 'Admiral Van Tromp's Barge'; “I love the curves in forms as these big ships confront the winds, holding strong in the storm. And as the Lodge is situated near the river, I wanted to keep this nautical theme and for this interaction with nature to be apparent in the works in an abstract manner”. The sculptures have been decorated with textures from both the house, garden and river (such as the Penny Line pointing between the brickwork and the Turquerie rugs) bringing the inside outside and vice versa. Semi-circular forms echo both the shape of the windows throughout the house and rainbows in his paintings such as 'Arundel Castle'.

'Thus the moon barely wanes
Winding her way above the storm-tossed sea.
Stand upon this hill and behold endlessly
This scene of a formidable sea,
And it will seem to thee a waking dream...'

from J.M.W. Turner's Poem dedicated to Ivan Aivazovsky (1842)

Neglected and forgotten a few year ago, the beautiful house was brought back to life and show us how can we integrate past and present in an inspiring way.

Do check it out yourself - it really is worth a visit. The sculptures remain in the house till the Autumn.

***

Turner’s House, Sandycombe Lodge, 40 Sandycoombe Road, St Margarets, Twickenham TW1 2LR i
https://turnershouse.org/

Chelsea Flower Show 2018

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 20:24:54 GMT

While waiting for a new Chelsea Flower Show, it is worth looking back at the amazing gardens shown last year.

My favourite was a modern garden for a residential apartment with sunken seating area with pastel cushions edged with box hedge in front of modern pavilion and colour co-ordinated soft pastel naturalistic planting of yellow lupins and orange geums and a multi-stem tree: plants perfect for pollinators and reducing pollution. It was a beautiful example of blurring borders between interior and exterior. The kitchen boasted modern appliances and as well as a vertical vegetable and herb farm powered by solar lighting. A garden for the future.

LG Eco-City Garden - Designer: Hay-Joung Hwang - Sposor: LG Electronics

Gold Medal-winning designer Kazuyuki Ishihara created yet another of his gem Japanese gardens evoking a feeling of calm and peace with water, rocks and shade loving planting of Japanese maples, moss balls, Iris 'Caesar's Brother', Pinus and Enkianthus campanulatus. Sheer perfection!

O-mo-te-na-shi no NIWA -The Hospitality Garden- Designer: Kazuyuki Ishihara
Contractor: Ishihara Kazuyuki Design Laboratory Co Ltd.
Sponsor: G-Lion & Cat’s Co Ltd.

People's Choice 2018 was a traditional charming Yorkshire rustic stone cottage on the edge of a woodland, with meadow, a brook, limestone dry walling and romantic planting flowering wisteria, Viburnum opulum with white flowers and Anthriscus sylvestris, celebrating traditional crafts. Just picture perfect and so romantic!

Welcome to Yorkshire - Designer: Mark Gregory - Sponsor : Welcome to Yorkshire - Gold and People's Choice

Chris Beardshow finally got his Best Show Garden for 2018, too, s he was somehow overlooked with not even a Gold medal the previous year. Some thought that he deserved Gold anyway and so did the pubic as but he got People's Vote. Both gardens had beautifully textured and elegant woodland planting in cool shades with Meconopsis 'Lingholm', Halesia carolina, Euphorbia, Hosta ‘Halcyon’, Lamium orvala, Meconopsis 'Lingholm', Primula and Valeriana pyrenaica. It also featured a stunning garden room and water feature.

The Morgan Stanley Garden for the NSPCC- RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018- Designer: Chris Beardshaw -Sposor: Morgan Stanley

It's been a traditoin to 'cut and cut and transport' a piece of natural landscape from a far away place and we had two such garden in 2018.
One of them tried to and succeeded quite well in recreating a South African wine estate with native fynbos landscape featuring eucospermum 'Soleil', Leonotis ocymifolia, Polygala myrtifolia and Kniphofia uvaria among a Mediterranean-type shrubland.

The Trailfinders South African Wine Estate - Designer: Jonathan Snow - Sposor: Trailfinders Ltd

Another native planting example was Gold medal winning M&G garden, with informal wild Mediterranean planting and hard-edged, textured clay and terracotta rammed earth walls. The planting was very soft and ephemeral with poppies, herbs, silvery sub-shrubs, blue Catanache caerulea, Cistus, Digitalis isabelliana and single flowered roses. Lovely light and breezy against earthy structures.

The M&G Garden - Designer: Sarah Price - Sposor: M&G Investments

The David Harber and Savills Garden offered planting inspiration with colourful perennials blended into rich variety of soft grasses with caper spurge (Euphorbia lathyrus), vibrant pink Dianthus carthusianorum, Thalictrum, Dianthus cruentus, Euphorbia, Stipa tenuissima and Salvia 'Caradonna'

The David Harber and Savills Garden - RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018- Designer: Nic Howard - Sposor: David Harber Savills

There as also an Islamic influence garden built for a refugee camp, combining past influence and simplicity of form and materials: rills in concrete with metal pipes, and simple wooden top benches with modern finish and drought tolerant planting in gravel, Punica granatum - pomegranate trees with herbs, citrus, and edibles against brick wall. Another garden taking us to a faraway place and offering simple ideas for our own garden.

The Lemon Tree Trust Garden - Designer: Tom Massey - Sponsor: Lemon Tree Trust

Soft planting with Iris 'Deep Black", Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum', Salvia x sylvestris 'Mainacht' and lime-green spurge and spectacular purple Lupinus 'Masterpiece' against the laser cut corten steel panels supplied by Stark and Greensmith - truly inspirational contrast of form and colour.

Urban Flow Garden - Designer: Tony Woods - Sposor: Thames Water

This artisan garden has the nicest green wall with bundance of grasses, ferns and heucheras on flowing into borders of foliage plants and more grasses. There are two distinct colour schemes, with autumnal copper shades on one side and silvery tones on the other. I loved the steam-bent oak bench with copper fixings by Toby Winteringham and ceramic tile path by Sue Ridge in the Art and Crafts tradition. Modern and traditional in a harmonious blend.

The Embroidered Minds Epilepsy Garden
Designer: Kati Crome - Contractor: Conway Landscapes - Sponsor: Embroidered Minds

These were my favourites - looking forward to May to see if the last years trends will continue- any more green walls with ornamental planting and edibles, drought-tolerant planting, juxtaposition of stark structures and ephemeral planting, colourful lupins and geum.. or something totally different and surprising?

Chelsea Flower Show 2017

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 13:32:16 GMT

Definitely different than other shows. The gardens were a bit smaller than usual. Or there was fewer big Show Gardens to awe.

The winner :

Garden created from disused limestone quarry with flora from Malta. The M&G Garden - RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017 - Designer: James Basson MSGD.

The naturalistic gardens, 'cutting' and transporting a piece of natural landscape seem to be very popular in recent years, collecting Gold medals and winning shows@ Dan Pearson's Chatsworth Garden in 2015 is a good example of the trend, to)

The People's Choice Garden, which has been given Silver Guilt, some thinking it deserved Gold:

The oak and limestone loggia surrounded by informal and formal planting with Campanula 'Telham Beauty', Cirsium rivulare 'Atropurpureum' and Pinus 'Nana' in The Morgan Stanley Garden - RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017 - Designer: Chris Beardshow - Sponsor: Morgan Stanley.

I must say it was one of my favourites, too!

Replacing the Big gardens, there was a new category: BBC2 Sponsored Feel Good Gardens, which did not compete for medals:

The Anneka Rice Colour Cutting Garden. Radio 2 Feel Good Gardens- RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017 - Designer: SSarah Raven

It was a real heaven for cut-flowers enthusiast, including a shed full of beautiful containers :)

For vegetable lovers and allotment growers ( I happen to belong to this category, too ) there was:

The Chris Evans Taste Garden. Radio 2 Feel Good Gardens - RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017 - Designer:
Jon Wheatley.

Below, three different varieties of Kale including 'Cavolo Nero', green and red cabbage and broad beans, all in neat rows and organically grown. If only mine were so well-behaved !

And was I predicting more curves last year? Ina bit smaller package but a curved seating we have:

The Jo Whiley Scent Garden - RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017 - Designer:
Tamara Bridge & Kate Savill

Last but not least, a garden with lost of practical ideas including insect-housing, butterfly feeders that can be used in an urban setting:

Greening Grey Britain Garden - RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017 - Designer:
Professor Nigel Dunnett

Many more gardens worth mentioning so I will be coming back to the subject, soon. Enjoy the remaining RHS flower shows this year: Hampton Court is coming next on 4th July !

RHS Chelsea Flower Show - Remembering 2016 one and Anticipating 2017 one

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Fri, 19 May 2017 15:06:30 GMT

It is only a few days to a brand new Chelsea Flower Show 2017 and so I would am sending a few photos of my favourite gardens from last year's show. Are we going to see even more exiting ones this year? The designers keep delivering amazing project every year and they have been doing it for over 100 years. The oldest and most renown flowers show in the worlds will surely surprise and amaze us again!

There will be a fewer big show gardens this year due to sponsorship problems but some designers are back, including Chris Beardshaw and James Basson. There will also be plenty of smaller gardens. Jo Whiley’s will have some curved seating...

The Winton Beauty of Mathematics Garden. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2016 - Designer: Nick Bailey - Sponsor: Winton

There also will be an elegant slightly forma garden ‘500 Years of Covent Garden’ by Lee Bestall, the project of which slightly reminds me of the garden below:

Planting in Husqvarna Garden, including Buxus sempervirens hedge, Eremurus robusatus, Leucadendron 'Burgundy Sunset', Lysimachia atropurpurea and Allium 'Purple Sensation'. Designer: Nick Bailey - Sponsor: Winton

Sara Raven's garden: The Anneka Rice Colour Cutting Garden will bring us lost of colourful blooms! Last year we could enjoy the lay of light and colour in this garden:

The Brewin Dolphin Garden – Forever Freefolk - Designer: Rosy Hardy - Sponsor: Brewin Dolphin

We will see woodland planting in The Morgan Stanley Garden by Chris Beardshow and as usual, the garden will be saved and donated to Groundwork. Beautiful woodland planting from last year's garden by Paul Martin:

Garden of Mindful Living, a contemporary garden with limestone rill, limestone and corten steel walls, nulti-stemmed trees and shade borders with Blechnum tabulare, Rodgersia 'Irish Bronze', Hosta 'Devon

The Royal Bank of Canada is also building a garden this year, showing us some Canadian boreal forest and lakes to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Confederation of Canada and the 10th year of the RBC Blue Water Project™. And this what it was last year:

Basalt rock features, Anchusa azurea, Asphodeline lutea, Hordeum jubatum, Papaver rhoeas and Pinus halpensis in The Royal Bank of Canada Garden, inspired by the Mediterranean pine habitat of Jordan.

There is also the question of which garden is going to be The Best in Show this year.. Last year's winner:

The Telegraph Garden. RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2015 – Design: Andy Sturgeon

The full package of my RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2016 is available on GAP Photos.

November, the Month of Rememberance

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 23:50:40 GMT

A recent visit to Highgate Cemetary ( East Part) in London.

http://highgatecemetery.org/

Very natural, ivy everywhere, weather-worn inscriptions on the stones, beautifully romantic, especially in the setting sun but also rather forgotten and melancholy..

Spring in the Alpine House at RHS Wisley

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Sun, 21 Feb 2016 00:32:05 GMT

The Alpine House at RHS Wisley is my favourite place of all to look for the most amazing little flowers.

Many true alpines, which naturally grow at high altitudes, flower in spring and early summer and so I have been visiting every February until May for the last three years to admire little flowering bulbs such as fritillaries crocuses or perennial hepaticas. Their flowers are usually very small so it is best to photograph them armed with a macro lens such as Nikkor 105mm f/2.8g macro and Zeiss Macro Planar 100mm f/2. To get closer to the plants I used a bean bag as tripod was a bit cumbersome in a small greenhouse. I guess even a longer macro lens would be beneficial here - the flowers can be really minute. Magnified, they let us enter some truly enchanted territories. Patel and delicate is how I see them and so I try to paint them with my lenses.

Leucocoryne

Leucocoryne vittata

Oxalis versicolor

Ipheion uniflorum 'Charlotte Bishop'

Photos from the Garden Of the Rose NGS Open Evening

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 13:27:00 GMT

The Royal National Rose Society's Garden near St Albans, http://www.rnrs.org.uk/, hosts the National Rose collection with some 1,800 rose varieties and over 30,000 rose bushes, old and historical varieties and companion planting. It is open from early June to early August each year, with the peak in late June. What a place to visit for a plant lover!

Still, we were in for a special treat last Friday when the garden opened for the NGS in the evening from 18.00 to 20.00 and the gardens were basking in golden light. A heaven for a photographer as the so called 'golden hour' adds special atmosphere and brings the textures out in your photos. This happens at really unsocial hours in the summer: 5 am is the time for the sunrise. The evening light is a bit better at around 8 pm.

I would have been in seventh heaven if not for a really strong wind but managed to take a few photos with my Nikon D800 mounted on a tripod and a Nikkor 105 mmf/2.8 macro lens, which I wanted to use to take a few close-up flower portraits, too

So here are the results. No names written down, as I want to come back to the gardens again to take more individual rose portraits this week. So watch this space..

Inspiration from Hampton Court Flower Show 2015 -City Twitchers Garden

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 18:59:25 GMT

This year, the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show, the world's biggest flower show, was celebrating its 25th anniversary in the beginning of July. I though, it might be a good reason to stop and had a look at some of the gardens it presented a bit closer. Time flies and flower only last a few days but they are great places packed with inspiring ideas to use in our gardens throughout the year. So lets start with one of my favourite garden, the City Twitchers ( Summer Gardens category ) designed by Sarah Keyser and built by Living Landscapes.

The circular paving stones are made of Egyptian limestone from London Stone and accompany a round pond planted with waterlilies. It's dark water surface contrast beautifully with the pale grey stones. Camomile and sedum planting are used instead of a grass lawn, providing a low-maintenance, drought-resistant ground-cover. It is also pollinator friendly.

WHITE PLANTING

A very effective and stylish way of creating impact in your garden is to use a simple colour scheme, like the classic white border, emphasizing textures. Plants with variegated or silver foliage like Lamium maculatum 'White Nancy', Hosta 'Fire and Ice' or Eryngium giganteum, help to bring the white and green scheme together. Romantic white Roses, bring the famous Sissinghurst Gardens to mind. In the photo: tall and upright foxgloves, white heads of Hydrangea macrophylla, Campanulla persicifolia 'Alba' white bells, delicate Descampsia cespitosa grass and green balls of Allium, combined together in a stylish, texture reach border.

WICKER

Wicker sin the garden might look elegant and indeed it does here. Both the hide and the raised bed look elegant and stylish, like some fashionable accessories to wear with your garment.The focal point of the garden is the spherical willow bird hide, created by Carole Beavis, furnished with Lorna Syson's cushions for comfort.

Just a short note on technical matters. The first photo was taken with Nikon D800 and Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 lens and the remaining photos were taken with Nikon D800 and Zeiss Macro Planar f/2 lens and a tripod Feisol.

Pure Land Foundation Garden by Fernando Gonzales at Chelsea Flower Show

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 16:54:18 GMT

Just a short post on one of my favourite gardens at Chelsea this year. It offered beautiful naturalistic planting with dominant warm glow russets and golds on white background, a great melange of nature and architecture. I was glad they used Iris 'Pride of Kent', I noticed in the flower Marquee two years ago and loved from the first sight.

Its technically advanced white structure is made of an innovative material Jasmonite by the state of the art robotic system, it is all about curves and floating organic lines. It does remind me of a famous Park Guell, designed by Antonio Gaudi in Barcelona at the turn of the 20th century, so much more obvious that its designer, Fernando Gonzales is also Spanish. Both combine nature and organically shaped architecture in a seamlessly perfect way, so we cannot see where one starts and the other finishes. A great tradition to follow and revive, creating a unique and fresh garden. Sadly only a Silver Guil, it is all Golden for me! :)

Dan Pearson's The Laurent-Perrier Chatsworth Garden Best in Chelsea Flower Show 2015

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Sat, 23 May 2015 15:00:00 GMT

Dan Pearson's naturalistic garden has drawn its inspiration from the monumental and dramatic Rockery and intimate Trout Stream, both designed for the Chatsworth Estate by Joseph Paxton in the 19th century. Delicate yellow, whites and pinks among the rocks, a small meandering stream, it all looks like carved out from nature ( and will be returned to nature ).

My Adventures in Chelsea Flowers Shows. The Last Five Years

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Fri, 01 May 2015 11:30:00 GMT

What a better subject for a new post than the RHS CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW. It is June now, and we have this year's Chelsea show behind us but there is

I will be happy writing all month about its different aspects! I visited the show in 2010 for the first time, still a student at Capel Manor College, getting half a day ticket, not seeing it all with little time available. Still, I was smitten by the beauty of the horticultural creations on show. Visiting every year ever since, usually all day now, I even managed to take a few photos with my Nikon D90 I bought a year earlier. I will write another post with tips on how to best take a few nice photos during a show, with a DSLR and no tripod in a crowded environment. Over the last 5 years, I could see certain trends becoming more and more important. What really makes me happy is that the designers really do care about Biodiversity, trying to make their gardens not only elegant and beautiful but also helping nature.

- Natural materials: wood, stone and wicker

- Recycling

- Naturalistic planting framed by geometric structures

- Highlighting textures eg. trees with ornamental bark

- Planting on green roofs and vertical walls

- Sensual gardens created with a particular client in mind ( e.g. raised beds for the elderly or disabled gardeners )

- Sustainability

- Wise use of water

- Encouraging biodiversity and sustainability: hiding placed for insects , birds and small mammals, using native plants or old varieties of plants Using vegetables, fruit and herbs in ornamental gardens ( e.g. ‘M&G Garden in 2011 )

Welcome

(Anna Omiotek-Tott Photo Garden) — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 22:45:00 GMT

A trained garden-designer with a background in s MA Art History, turned garden photographer, I love tending plants with my hubby in our London allotment and in my mother's small garden. Even though there are so many blogs being written these days, here am I to start another.. Not a typical photography blog, though, as I want to write more about the subjects of most of photography and my passion: PLANTS and GARDENS here.