Join us as we round up our favourite florals from the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show... read more
At the start of one of the sunniest and hottest weeks of the year, we headed off to the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show to indulge in our love of all things floral. One of the world’s largest flower shows, held in the historic grounds of Hampton Court Palace, this year the show is celebrating its 25th anniversary so we knew they would be pulling out all the stops and as expected it did not disappoint.
The show is split into three themed zones; Grow, Inspire and Feast. Within these are the world class Show Gardens with 30 of them dotted round the grounds divided into 4 categories – Show, Conceptual, Historic and Summer. This show is much bigger than Chelsea Flower Show so make sure to bring comfortable walking shoes.
We started off in the Inspire zone which helpfully has many of the Show Gardens, making them easy to locate. It also has the World Gardens, Conceptual Gardens and Summer Gardens as well as the impressive Festival of Roses.
The Scotty’s Little Garden
First up was The Scotty’s Little Soldiers Garden. The charity was founded by Army widow Nikki Scott and currently supports more than 200 children who have lost a parent serving in the British Armed Forces. A beautiful and thought provoking garden – make sure to take time in this garden and read the messages on the ‘Memory Tree’.
Just Retirement: A Garden for Every Retiree
Next up was a particular favourite Just Retirement: A Garden for Every Retiree designed by award winning designer Tracey Foster. For those who are novices this is the garden for us. It showcases an everyday garden that reflects the differing needs of retirees in the UK today.
Macmillan Legacy Garden
When the heat of the day got too much, The Macmillan Legacy Garden was the perfect place to retreat to. An inviting garden that offers space to relax in – an impressive pod-like structure has been created to encourage people to take a seat and contemplate life’s journey.
A Growing Obsession
One that simply could not be missed was A Growing Obsession which took inspiration from a Victorian English country garden. Certainly one of the quaintest – this pretty garden with an abundance of roses, perfectly manicured flower beds and green house in the back drop reminds us of many a Laura Ashley floral print.
The Turkish Ministry of Culture’s Garden of Paradise
We made sure to stop by the World Gardens in the Inspire zone with dreams of exotic trips. The Turkish Ministry of Culture’s Garden of Paradise is influenced by early Turkish Islamic Gardens of the 10th Century with architectural detailing and a pavilion for shade. Bold bright blooms are contrasted with herbaceous plants representing the Turkish landscape.
Next up the Conceptual Gardens – always challenging and thought provoking, this year sees the theme of ‘sensations’.
African Vision: Malawi Garden
The Gallery of Mirrors
Many of these Conceptual gardens were much starker in contrast but no less impressive. Make sure to take a closer look at African Vision: Malawi Garden. It was created to promote the practice of sustainable planting to support ideas of how to combat famine. Tthis powerful garden has an infinity mirror at the centre to create the appearance of fields of maize stretching into the distance. Others include The Gallery of Mirrors and Equilibrium.
The Wellbeing of Women Garden
Next we headed off to the Summer Gardens. One our favourites was The Wellbeing of Women Garden. We couldn’t wait to step into this soft and feminine garden, in hues of purple, blue and white, via the stepping stones with each representing a decade in its 50 year history. If only our garden could look this good.
RHS Maze
No trip to Hampton Court Palace is complete without a journey through the maze. This year RHS has created an RHS anniversary maze. Covering nearly 900 square metres, the impressive garden celebrates the silver anniversary and is a nod to the first labyrinth that was at the first show in 1990.
Scarecrow Competition
Make sure to stop and check out the Scarecrow Competition. There are 37 scarecrows celebrating different historical figures that have been created by schools involved in the RHS Campaign for School Gardening.
There is also a fantastic garden; We’re All Mad Here – The Mad Hatters Tea party, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the publication of Alice in Wonderland with impressive topiaries of characters from the novel.
Next we headed over to the Grow zone, here you can learn all about plants and even purchase some in the Plant Village. In honour of the anniversary an enormous 4 tier floral cake has been created using 3456 plants in the display, not forgetting the 25 candles that adorn the structure.
Floral Marquee
Also in Grow is the Floral Marquee which you could spend hours perusing all the beautiful floral arrangements created by 90 different hand-picked UK and international nurseries.
Last up was the Feast Zone, where you can sample a range of culinary delights or take a look at the Feast Cookery Theatre. Make sure to take a peek at the 1815 Hougoumont Farms Kitchen Garden which is inspired by the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.
There are so many things to see and do at Hampton Court, there were plenty of attractions that sadly we didn’t even have time to visit. We could happily have spent the whole day there – if you do make sure to make the most of the various food and refreshment spots along the way. It’s a great day out for the family and runs until the 5th July. And if you do pop along, why not go and see our Laura Ashley collaboration with Anglian windows with our new decoration glass range.
Will you be attending the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show this year? We’d love to hear what you thought?