RHS Hampton Court review Inspiration and awareness


This year’s RHS Hampton Court Flower Show proved the perfect opportunity to find some inspiration and see what’s at the forefront in outdoor living and horticulture, Fiona Garcia reports


The Brilliance In Bloom show garden, designed by Charlie Bloom, proved popular with visitors thanks to its bold planting, set off by a vibrant coloured mosaic at the heart of the display. It also featured a flower I saw in more people’s trolleys to take home than I can count. A huge number of people seemed to have bought themselves an Achillea millefolium 'Red Beauty' – so many, in fact, that when I spoke to Hardy’s Cottage plants on day three of the show, they’d just sold their last one in that shade. It’s little wonder, considering red is tipped to be a big colour in the garden through 2018/2019. Charlie Bloom’s garden also boasted Imperata ‘Red Baron’, or blood grass, as it is known, and another Achillea called ‘Saucy Seduction’.


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B&Q wowed with its Bursting Busy Lizzie Garden that was brimming with the newly-launched Imara Bizzie Lizzies in red, rose and orange. The garden, which was designed by Matthew Childs and built by Living Landscapes, was created to showcase Britain’s bedding favourite in an unexpected way and Matthew based the look on a photograph of impatiens in a natural setting in their native South Africa. The finished article saw the bright blooms set against the tropical greenery of palms, Japanese banana trees, gunnera magellanicas, ferns and hostas. A clear favourite with the RHS judges, the garden was awarded a coveted gold medal, as well as being named Best Show Garden and winning the Best Construction Award.


Show gardens such as Brilliance in Bloom included inspiration for attendees with its bursts of colour


s at Chelsea this year, there were an abundance of lupins in various hues at Hampton Court, and bright blooms were all the rage.


B&Q was understandably delighted with the response to its garden, particularly as designer Matthew said there is “some snobbery” about bedding plants at gardening shows and that very few varieties were on display in exhibits this year. “The horticultural police have ruled out bedding plants but I think we need to change that mindset and show the different ways you can use them,” he said. “We also have another bedding favourite, the aucuba japonica crotonifolia on the garden here and it looks fantastic.”


Popular plants


With the nation’s love for houseplants showing no signs of abating, there is a renewed interest in succulents; something Simply Succulents owner John Chandler has seen first-hand. “Succulents are very popular at the moment and I think it’s probably because people haven’t got the time to look after them,” he noted. “With these, you can plant them and then go on holiday.”


Tapping into the wellbeing trend, he added: “Arborescens is the new cancer-fighting plant. It’s much better than Aloe Vera. A lot of people love aloe because it grows so quickly, so it’s easy to farm.” In the floral marquee, Mickfield Hostas created a Gold medal-winning display, designed to inspire visitors to do something different with hostas. “We have been exhibiting here for 25 years,” said Melanie Collins, whose parents founded the nursery business. “There are three hosta people in the marquee but they show in different ways. I have displayed hostas in hanging baskets for the first time this year and I have sold so many of that variety off the back of that. It’s been really popular.”


Inspiring the younger generation


There have long been concerns over the lack of young people making a career in the horticulture industry and also discussions over the best way to get children into gardening, a topic still very much on the agenda at Hampton Court. John Chandler of Simply Succulents said: “It’s sad but there aren’t a lot of growers out there now. It’s about inspiring children and getting them gardening. We need some young people to come into horticulture and they’ll make a fortune.”


RHS council member Jon Wheatley echoed the sentiments and is committed to the widest possible involvement of the community – in particular young people and children. Jon, who is also chairman of the RHS South West in Bloom, designed the


RHS Growing Community Garden at the show this year, which set about championing how people from all walks of life are brought together through horticulture. It highlighted a number of key issues, including grow your own, recycling and upcycling, the wonder of worms, and pollinator- friendly planting. As a show garden, the quality of the plants and vegetables that were on display were just as important as the messages the garden was communicating in order to really inspire visitors. He said of the exhibit: “I think plants are the most important thing in a


garden, not concrete. A show garden must have show-quality plants and we can’t let the quality slip. I’m keen to see how the public take to the new varieties of plant we have on here, including Ceylon spinach and Perilla Frutescens (a herb native to Southeast Asia that has a minty flavour).” He added: “I wanted this garden to raise awareness and to engage people in new types of growing. It looks at the wider values of horticulture – social, economic, and health – but above all how to have fun… If we could get every mum and dad here to get their children growing seeds, we’d have a great future.”


He added: “I also want to raise the profile of British horticulture. We’re not very good at saying how good we are.”


4 | www.gardencentreupdate.com GCU July/August 2018


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