Hampton Court 2018

 

Hampton Court has always been a favourite of mine, ever since my first view, driving a lorry laden with plants across a dusty, sun bleached field with a herd of deer in the distance. That first experience of an RHS Show was in retrospect an iconic moment in my career. To see a full grown rough, tough man on the verge of tears because his Jacaranda mimosifolia had lost its one flower in transport was memorable to say the least. I often wonder who he was and how his garden got on that year, I do hope he did ok. That was my first sighting of a tree that was to become one of my top 10 trees. The atmosphere on the build was amazing and honestly it made me realise that when I changed careers, scary as that was, I had made the best decision of my life!

Since then I have visited Hampton Court many times, both on build and as a visitor, I’ve always preferred it to Chelsea if I’m honest. It feels less crowded, less frantic. The standard of displays has always been just as good, if not better in some cases. In the past 2 years the butterfly dome has been an enormous draw for visitors, seeing a little girl looking at wonder at a huge butterfly that had decided to alight on her hand was just delightful. Hopefully a memory that might turn her into a future entomologist!

Theres lots of shopping opportunities at Hampton Court too, not just for sundries, gadgets and fancy things but for plants! The floral marquee is as always a dangerous place for those of us with plant avarice. Last year I picked up some gorgeous bits and pieces. Pelargonium ‘Springfield black’ and ‘Lord Bute’ came home and are now gracing the pots in various places at Ulting Wick, performing beautifully. A Colocasia ‘Hawaiian blue’ survived this harsh winter and has grown well enough to be split and is in pots by the front door. As usual I will be keeping my eyes open for the unusual or beautiful, I feel myself increasingly being drawn towards the amazing leaves of Begonias.

Outside there are beautiful gardens to admire and take inspiration from, one designer I’ve come to admire recently has been Charlie Bloom. Her designs are accessible for most urban gardeners. Materials and plant selections that would grace any average back garden and turn it into a paradise. Last year her garden ‘Colour box’ was literally overrun by admiring visitors, crowds standing 5 deep to catch a glimpse of the cheerful simplicity which was obviously something that was easily relatable to. Come sell off time the garden disappeared in minutes!

Its worth mentioning the ethos behind her work at this point, unlike most show gardens the budget involved was minimal. The entire build was done on a shoestring! Charlie involved several suppliers, friends and volunteers to create her vision. Shes very vocal about this, praising each and every person involved. It really is a team effort, which is a beautiful thing to see. This year is no different in that sense, in fact maybe even more so with various parties such as Nickie Bonn, Stark and Greensmith, Lewis Normand, Art4Space, London Stone and possibly many others I haven’t named, giving time, materials and smiles to create ‘Brilliance in Bloom’. Having followed its creation on Twitter it’s another amazing garden which I’m sure the public will fall in love with.

One which caught my eye from its design brief mainly due to the fantastical description was the Elements Mystique Garden by Elements Garden Design. It features the work of Belgian sculptor William Roobrouck. Corten steel in gardens seems to be very in vogue at the moment! The sphere which dominates the garden is representing a fallen meteor with a planting scheme representing the heat the plants closest would have suffered, ruptured paving from the impact has a fantasy element that appeals to me.

There were 3 others which caught my eye

First the Hampton Court gardens team has produced this amazing Battlefield garden, the sheer logistics in the build are stunning as is the attention to detail. It’s not classically pretty, no, but the feat of shifting tonnes of earth to create huge trenches, phenomenal!

Even without being told you realise that as you journey through the garden you are travelling through time from a war zone, albeit a staged one, to an area abandoned by man and slowly being reclaimed by wildlife.

Huge bombcraters, littered with remnants of rusted metal bearing witness to the fierce horror the land witnessed. The wildflowers which colonise the landscape as you travel through the installation are brought to life with dragonflies,butterflies and other wildlife that have colonised the site since the build started. the blasted, dead trees standing sentinel overall.

The second literally stopped me in my tracks!

One of the most gorgeous Loquat trees I’ve seen in a long time, surrounded by gorgeous exotic foliage. Excellent use of hard landscaping and on a scale that didn’t dominate. As you travel along the garden you are suddenly treated to a blaze of colour carpeting the ground! Bizzie Lizzies!

Ok, I admit when I read the brief on this garden I turned my snobby nose up… Its true, I admit it…. I take it all back!

Firstly my snobby brain went “B&Q! Making a show garden! Pfft!”…. I am shame

Second “Bizzie Lizzies! Oh god, how 1970’s!” … I am doubley shame

The guys who created this garden have got a well deserved gold medal, hats off, it’s not a horrible dated monstrosity even in the slightest, its gorgeous. Using Buzy Lizzies in such a way as to reflect their natural environment, understory planting in a garden that gives the feel of somewhere way more exotic than south, west London!

And my final surprise is based on the quality of the plants used and the execution of the build. This one was a creeper in the sense it took me a while to realise exactly how good it was. I spent longer looking at this installation than at quite a few other more spectacular builds. Great Gardens of the USA is a garden of 2 halves

The use of plants was exquisite, from the wild rugged Oregon gardens to the chic courtyard of Charlestown & South Carolina

Once you’ve had your fill of the gardens and shopping take a moment to check out some of the workshops and talks being held throughout the week

Firstly, perhaps not one for the vegans (kidding before anyone gets annoyed), plants that eat meat!

Take the time to have a look at Matthew Soper’s display, from Hampshire Carnivorous Plants. He’s been nominated as this years Master Grower. He is a wealth of information on this fascinating genre of plants that have evolved ingenious methods of supplementing their diet using insects and mammals as food sources. I love murderous plants!

There are also various fun workshops and experiences to enjoy throughout the week. For those of you that missed the Chatsworth Orchid display there’s a second chance to see an insects eye view of pollinating an orchid! This virtual reality experience is great for adults and kids alike.

If you have kids with you there’s lots of stuff aimed at them like making fairy flower crowns and bumble bees! Also make your own bird feeders and mini gardens that you can take home with you… to be honest, that actually sounds quite fun, I get odd looks when I do these things without borrowing a friends child first, being an adult is so hard sometimes! *stamps foot*

Anyway, you can dig for fossils, forage wild food, learn how to do a modern floral arrangement then learn calligraphy! With your new found skills you could host the most awesome dinner party to show off your fossil finds. Your menu could be made up from stuff you find in hedgerows with a lovely floral centrepiece and delicately inscribed namecards and invitations… am I right or am I right!

More details of where to find all these things will be available in your programme guide.

In fact there is a ridiculous amount to do, you’re going to be hard pushed to see and experience everything, think of this like an upmarket festival so careful planning may be needed to get the most out of your day. Think of it like Glastonbury for flowers where the “must see bands” are Piet Oudolf, Raymond Blanc, Greg Wallace, The floral marquee and the Kinetic trees!…. In fact that is an awesome band name… someone should use that!

Anyway, pack your sunnys, a hat, a bottle of water and your credit card cos Hampton is on! Enjoy!