This is Anfield & Wild Flowers of Inver, by Hugh Doherty

Had a brilliant day out to the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) Flower Show at Tatton Park, near the lovely town of Knutsford, Cheshire. This is a four day show and it is just not possible to take it all in, in one day. The attendance was also large which meant that getting around was slow but it was well worthwhile and most enjoyable. It was nice to sit down outside at lunchtime with a sandwich and a pint of 'real' ale to enjoy a live jazz band playing 'Midnight in Moscow'.

Getting back to my reason for being at the show, to look at the show gardens; I was really impressed with, 'This is Anfield', representing the Liverpool Football stadium. The designer, Ann Picot, was inspired by the geometry of the passing moves in a game. In the zig-zag movement she used Daisies (Bellis perennis) to represent the passage of the ball to the goal. Her use of daisies was interesting because in football parlance the term 'Daisy cutter' is used to describe a powerful low shot that just skims above the surface of the pitch and usually ends up in the goal.

Behind 'the goal' is the Kop, the stand, where most ardent and vocal Liverpool supporters are usually to be found. Here she used red flowers to represent supporters' colours and grasses to give the impression of a swaying movement by the crowd. The 'boxwood balls' along the side represent the spare balls used when the match ball goes out into the stand and is slow to return (at least that was my interpretation). It was almost like being at a match.

The lower photo is of an Irish garden, "Wild flowers of Inver", designed by Stephen Dennis. This "Inver" is actually on the Atlantic coast at lovely Broadhaven Bay near Belmullet in County Mayo and not Donegal as I initially thought. As you can see in the picture a 'Bronze harp' was used as a water feature in the centre of the lake and the "strings of the harp" were actually thin jets of water. This was an amazing feature which attracted a lot of attention. The beautiful wild flowers, both native and alien, growing side by side around the lake, represents the influence of the Atlantic ocean which brought 'strangers' to our shores.

The RHS marquee housed leading nurserymen displaying and offering their plants and seeds for sale. Anyone intending to buy that special plant should do so early in the day and leave for collection later as by mid afternoon they may be sold out, as I discovered. Their prices were all "reasonable", from £2.00 upwards and I did buy some seeds which were easily carried.