Gardens speak to different people in different ways and that’s why garden festivals are so amazing; they bring together garden designers with incredible ideas that portray a snapshot, a feeling, a moment or a theme. Gardens are a constant source of ideas and inspiration, but they are so much more than the sum of their parts. Every garden at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival was packed with incredible plants, used in exquisite combinations and planted into garden designs that live and breathe the essence of the garden and the designer who created it.
The gardens at this year’s RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival were the lifeblood of the show, large and small, each one was infused with plants and passion. Here are five that really stood out.
RHS Iconic Horticultural Hero Garden (RHS Feature Garden 656)
For the thirtieth anniversary of the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, Carol Klein has created a show stopper. Her garden at this year’s show was the talk of press day, whispers in the early hours rose to a crescendo as more and more people were drawn to this extraordinary space. It is quite incredible. A magical, mesmerising fantastical space, except it is more than real. It’s divine. Even the bees think so! The colours are simply gorgeous, the plant combinations exceptional. There are six different areas, from a sunken boggy garden, a raised woodland and a rich native hedge. But for me, it’s the loose meadow planting mix of herbaceous perennials that totally wows with its mix of fabulous plants. The pale pink skirts of Echinacea pallida brush the blue hues of eryngium, with soft white blooms of cosmos, wild carrot, and rusty spires of Digitalis ferruginea and woodland sage, add texture and ground the effect. Congratulations Carol, your garden has carved a huge heart on the planet for the duration of this wonderful show.
Designed by Carol Klein
RHS Wildlife Garden (RHS Feature Garden 562)
Created as an ‘imagined wildlife garden’ for the RHS Wildlife Garden at this year’s RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, but the wildlife had other ideas. In the early hours of Press Day, the wildlife moved in. Squirrels racing through the paths, a pair of very vocal crows drinking from a pool of water and then the insects in all their glory arrived. Soon, it was alive with hornet mimic hoverflies, hummingbird hawkmoths, ladybirds, and skippers galore feeding on the nectar rich flowers of the buddleja, and verbena, wild carrot, verbascum, salvia, bee balm, betony and foxgloves, nestling in the under storey beneath the trees.
The site represents a disused, unloved patch of ground. An undervalued forgotten space that is a powerful place providing valuable habitat for wildlife, whether that is nesting, roosting, overwintering or breeding and feeding. It’s a green corridor providing vital wildlife benefits, supporting biodiversity but with a nod to the fact that a green corridor such as this presents places for people too.
Designed by Jo Thompson and Kate Bradbury
The Traditional Townhouse Garden (Show Garden 270)
If I could teleport one garden from this year’s RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival back to my plot, it would be this one. I wanted to gather this garden up into my arms and carry it home. It’s a small, enchanting space with some very fine bone structure, and by that, I mean its more formal layout following the straight lines that often accompany urban living. And yet it’s soft, so very soft in its presence, providing a true escape from the pace of modern life.
The colour scheme is soft greens and white, with accents of rich purple, red and dusky pink repeating through the planting. There are four gorgeous soft limey green urns overflowing with billowing cushions of lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) surrounding a central multi-stemmed Tibetan cherry (Prunus serrula).
Wildlife is welcome at this urban oasis, a pond with gentle, shallow edges enables creatures to drink but creates a tranquil feel for human visitors, while the boundary hedge adds further shelter and structure for birds and adds its cushioning presence as a seasonal, softening backdrop.
Designed by Lucy Taylor
Landform Mental Wealth Garden (Get Started Garden 554)
As part of the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival Get Started Garden collection, this smaller space demonstrates brilliantly affordable and achievable ideas for those just starting their gardening journeys and this one caught my eye and captured my heart. Its evokes a sense of wellbeing and draws you in to the centre to admire the fascinating and recycled water feature, a contemplative focal point that has still and running water. There’s an essence of healing here, whether it’s simply a place to sit, relax and focus on the moment, or the possibility of creating healing herbal tinctures or a cup of herbal tea picked from fresh mint growing in the gardens. It’s another garden embracing nature and welcoming wildlife; the fences have hedgehog holes and there are bird boxes and nesting sites for solitary bees too.
Designed by Nicola Hale
Shapes of Blue (Sensory Pocket Planting 195)
New at this year’s RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival is the Sensory Pocket Planting category, small spaces that have been richly planted to evoke the senses, with an emphasis on unlocking additional sensory dimensions. There are ten very different and very evocative pocket beds outside the Floral Marquee providing food for thought and sensory experiences. This one is a botanical hug, representing the blues that we sometimes feel and that are part of our existence. The plants, climate resilient flowers and grasses in shades of blue, sweep across the space, creating a metaphorical embrace in the silent wave of blue wonder. Stop awhile and really appreciate the clever use of textures, shapes and colours that together create a sweeping cloak of floral comfort.
Designed by Camilla Flint
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