Succulents at RHS Hyde Hall

I’ve long been a fan of succulents, but this year they’ve not really made an impact in my garden. I had plans to include some in a picture frame, but as I’ve not been to the garden centre yet that’s on hold. I hadn’t really noticed the succulents at RHS Hyde Hall before, but as we were scouting for potential rain shelters, I spotted a few pots full of succulents.

And I couldn’t have been happier!

If you know Hyde Hall and are wondering where, they’re by the new building at the top of the hill. At one of the exits to the cafe (which was obviously closed on our visit).

It’s somewhere I’ll be making a point of stopping off at again.

Though I was good, and didn’t check to see if any of the leaves were detached, which go on to form new plants. I have been known to ask at garden centres if I can have these, and no one’s ever said no. It’s when I’m buying plants, I don’t have that much front to ask on the off chance.

I’ll definitely be checking my succulents this weekend - free plants, and succulents, what’s not to like?

A shower over the tub

After the last post, from the dining room, you’ll know that the bathroom was MOH’s favourite room. It’s the last room in the ‘house’ and it was pretty spectacular. It was also hard to photograph, but that didn’t influence my decision, the dining room was my favourite. After seeing each of the rooms we dutifully dropped our tokens into the respective perspex boxes (a bit like you do in Waitrose).

It’ll be interesting to hear which room is overall most popular, I suspect it might be this one as it did have the wow factor. And it’s the last room of the Giant Houseplant Takeover.

As soon as you enter this room, you know it’s going to be special. Not only as the bathroom sink is the first glimpse you get, but also because people are reluctant to move on and vacate their viewing position. It’s understandable, but frustrating though I’m sure I did exactly that too.

I was surprised that MOH opted for this room as his favourite as he’s really not a fan of Mind Your Own Business, which I’m cultivating very happily in our garden to soften the edges of the slate and paving, and the edges of the sleeper raised beds. He’s all for ripping it up, and I’m sure is more enthusiastic about any ‘pruning’ that I authorise than I intend him to be. I’ll be able to remind him that he was a fan, next time he rolls his eyes at the MYOB though, won’t I?

The shower over the tub, as I’ve titled this post, was the main and spectacular centrepiece for this room. But it’s not just about the cascading water, which is pretty cool, look at the detail of the shower head, and how the plants behind the cascade echo the downward movement. It’s very clever, and not something that’s been thrown together.

I was fascinating by the bath structure too, and as you can see from the photo above it’s supported by a couple of posts, which gives it that ‘floating’ feeling. The blue also helps it both stand out and blend in to its surroundings. The plants throughout the exhibition were fantastic, but it was here (along with the leaves on the bureau in the living room) that my interest was really piqued.

A BIRD’S NEST FERN

I’ve not seen plants like the Bird’s Nest fern above before (it’s ‘Crispy Wave’ if you want to know more) but I’d very happily see much more of this, and seeing it closer to home (i.e. in my back garden) would also be welcome. Though the fact that it was in the hot houses at Wisley, probably means it won’t be so happy out side in all weathers.

Once again it pays to look up, as there were these quite large plants and their bound root balls above our heads. These reminded me of the snitch (or ball) used in the quidditch games in Harry Potter. I’m sure they’re probably supposed to represent something else, but that’s the first thing that came to my mind. I’m not quite sure what that says about my mind though…

It was good to end the tour of the house with a pop of colour from these Birds of Paradise-like plants, especially for me, you know how much I love colour. You already know which rooms were mine and MOH’s favourites, but which is yours?

Dining room delights

I’ll let you into a secret, which there is no point keeping until the end of this post as you’ll guess by the number of photos. This room was my favourite of the whole Giant Houseplant Takeover. It wasn’t MOH’s though, and in another spoiler, I’ve not shared that room yet (and there’s only one more to go after this post).

In truth, I was captivated by this room as soon as I saw it. Lots of people were, and I had to push my patience levels to the edge to take photos without hands and heads appearing, waiting patiently (which is unlike me) for people to move on, so I could nab their spot. But it was worth it.

Even on the day I’d toyed with putting my vote token against one of the other rooms, but deep down I knew which one had captured my heart. Not the kitchen with it’s cleverness, or the room that’s to come which was spectacular.

Maybe it was the drinks trolley, maybe the details - it was another room where looking up paid off. The light fitting though is very similar to the one we have in our dining room - clearly I was meant to like this room. Our light has five arms and bulbs, this one only 3 and apart from the length of the chain - and the plants for lightbulbs - it’s exactly the same. Spooky hey?

It was the detail as well as the plants. The ivy pattern on the cups and saucers, the frothy plant spilling out of the champagne bottle. We spent quite some time trying to work out what was in the glasses, but failed. Either way, we weren’t about to find out by having a taste (even if we could have got close).

It wasn’t even the “drinks globe” although that’s a classic that absolutely fits with the brown furniture.

Apart from the plants on the chairs, and the dodgy green liquid in the glasses, wouldn’t it be fun to have dinner here?