Garden show inspiration combines nature and fantasy
The combination of colourful flowers, natural moss and a meticulously fashioned tablescape combines to create an incredible fantasy garden room that can be used as inspiration for our own gardens. Imagine incorporating some of these ideas for your next garden party. Even Alice herself is admiring the results.
Injecting a little theatre into your natural garden
I had no great expectations when I stepped into the main doors of our local botanical gardens’ latest flower show entitled “Alice in Bloomland.”
Afterall, I was there to photograph some decent flower images in the middle of a long, cold Canadian winter. After tracking coyotes and owls the previous week, I needed some ready-made subjects that were not hiding out, weary of a photographer, and just plain difficult to find.
“I started out trying to keep the images looking all very natural, but within minutes I realized the beauty of the show was its ability to transform nature into an incredible fantasy stage set that was simply mind blowing.”
Welcome to the show
Here, the use of well-positioned garden art adds colour to an otherwise green-textured ground cover. Imagine adding colourful art pieces like these mushrooms to a quiet area of your garden.
I couldn’t ask for a better situation than flowers out on display, even if they were a little staged. I figured I could work around that and keep it as natural as possible, while maybe even getting a little garden inspiration at the same time.
Boy was I wrong.
I’m convinced Lewis Carroll, author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, would be impressed if he could witness this incredible fantasy garden display.
It’s as fantastical for adults as it is for children, as inspirational for gardeners as it is exciting for photographers. As a gardener with a passion for capturing photographic images, it was almost a dream come true.
I started out trying to keep the images looking all very natural, but within minutes I realized the beauty of the show was its ability to transform nature into an incredible fantasy stage set that was simply mind blowing.
Three take aways from exploring this theatrical show
Use colour boldly through the use of flowers and garden art
Use mirrors to emphasize and reflect already splashes of colour
Incorporate natural materials like moss, ground covers and flowers in theatrical-style installations.
Colourful orchids dominated the display helping to create a truly fantasy world.
The beauty of a single orchid
A single orchid stands out from the thousands that took centre stage in the garden show.
The sheer number of orchids blooming everywhere you looked was inspiration enough, but the extensive use of moss and other natural elements combining with the flowers and Alice in Wonderland garden art, took the display to a whole other level.
Lessons learned from theatrical garden show
But what could a gardener – let alone a woodland gardener – take from all this?
In a word, plenty.
A woodland table setting combining mosses, flowers and the necessary accoutrements.
A massive moss-covered table decorated with an array of flowers softening the accoutrements of a formal table setting provided enough inspiration in itself to dream of what could be done in our own gardens. A similar display on our gardens – toned down a little of course, but not so much to take away the theatrical presence of the display would be a wonderful addition.
A door into the garden
Colourful doors add more excitement to an already incredible theatrical stage set in the garden.
Alice herself even showed up for a few photographs in the garden.
This was garden art taken to extremes. Toned down, a smaller version of the moss-covered table could easily stand in for a boring, old, underused table in the back garden. A glue gun, a variety of mosses, a good helping of annuals, succulents and some well thought out thrift finds could transform a little-used corner of the garden into a favourite sitting spot.
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Either a secret spot in a corner of the garden or, even better, imagine incorporating some of these ideas for your next garden party? Wouldn’t that be fun?
Painting the town red
Using the red extraction filter on the Fujifilm X10 creates the illusion of a youngster painting the town red.
And if a moss-covered table setting is not your “cup of tea” you could always use the naturalized table setting as a place to feed birds, chipmunks and other backyard critters.
Imagine capturing images of your favourite chipmunk sitting down for lunch at your moss-covered table setting with all the trimmings.
Of course, the fantasy table setting was just a small part of the entire display.
In another area of the display, mirrors added depth to the garden, and a vignette focussed on using oversized chess pieces as garden art.
Garden shows, like this one, offer a wealth of ideas for gardeners looking to create a special place in their landscape. The images I collected are too numerous to include in this post, but I have created a gallery of images you should check out to get a more complete picture of what this show and others like them can offer gardeners. To check out my gallery of images click here.
The king and queen sit among an incredible display of roses.
In another area, the queen and king took their positions on stately thrones festooned with an incredible wall of roses. Not far off, children “painted the town red.”
For the Photographers
It’s easy to walk into a display like this and instantly get overwhelmed by colour and the intricate detail captured by the garden designers. Not unlike walking into a forest, it’s always a good idea to walk around and explore the area to get a better feel for the entire display.
If you want to see more images from the Alice in Bloomland garden show, check out my photo gallery here.
I chose to keep my approach simple and stick to my Fujifilm X10 – an enthusiast point-and-shoot camera that was first introduced in 2011. Despite its age, it remains a very capable camera with features that allow it to be the perfect walk-about camera complete with its 28-112mm equivalent lens with close-up capabilities.
For more on the Fujifilm X10 – fast becoming one of the cult cameras in the Fuji lineup, check out my review here and my Photogallery of images taken with the camera here.
It turned out to be all I needed for my first visit and allowed me to capture a comprehensive overview of the display. I returned the next day to capture more detailed images of the show.
Exploring Fujifilm’s extraction filter
The creative approach in the garden inspired me to experiment with Fujifilm’s in-camera filters, and choosing the red extraction filter proved to be an ideal choice to emphasize a garden design feature. (Many camera manufacturers offer colour extraction filters but they are often buried in the camera’s menu systems.)
Taking advantage of a design feature by using an in-camera filter to pull out the reds in this image adds to the fun of shooting in this type of environment.
Time to focus on details
Small details are worth photographing so that you can incorporate many of the ideas in your own garden.
By using the red extraction filter, I was able to simplify a group of mannequins “painting the town red.” The extraction filter, which creates a B&W image that only allows the colour red to show through, helps focus attention on the design by eliminating distractions such as green leaves and other colours in the scene.
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Imagine using the different coloured filters in your garden photography focusing on extracting the colour blue or yellow in your native flowers.
In a show with this much attention to detail, look for garden ideas that might work in your own garden.
Thrifty ideas
Consider using everyday household items as garden art.
One of the details that caught my attention and one that could easily be incorporated in any woodland or natural garden design, is a vintage clock surrounded by a flowering vine.
These little details are features to always keep your eye on while visiting public gardens, but especially when garden designers are brought in to create a fantastical theatrical displays that you are unlikely to see in a typical garden.
Happy shooting.
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