Hampton Court Flower Show showcases the best of themed gardens
By Fiona Law
Now in its 22nd year, the Hampton Court Flower show is a British summer cultural institution. It has gained an international reputation for innovative show and conceptual gardens. 160,000 visitors flock to the 34-acre site adjacent to the historic royal palace built by Henry VIII. The show is organised by the Royal Horticultural Society, who also host the sell-out Chelsea Flower Show. As at Chelsea, there is a strong horticultural element, with a floral marquee the size of a soccer pitch and an ever growing emphasis on productive gardens. Hampton is also a showcase for landscapers who often work closely with designers during the design phase. There is an interesting use of materials and generally a very high level of finish.
Best Show Garden award went to first-timers Caroline Comber with Petra Horackova. In there ‘I am Because of Who We Are’ garden, interlocking arcs of Cor-ten steel symbolise the African philosophy of Ubuntu, or social co-operation. Originally entered as a student project in the Concept Garden category, the design was strong enough for the organisers to ask for it to be developed as one of the 12 prestigious show gardens.
Looking at Venn diagrams – overlapping circles of sets in logic - crystallised concept, ‘was an ‘epiphany moment’ says Caroline. The steel curves contain groupings of mixed grass and herbaceous planting that mingle at the intersections. Cor-ten strips in the grass and a grid of 24 birch (Betula albosinensis ‘Fascination’) are evidence of Caroline’s original training as a landscape architect.
Modernist gardens were also in evidence. Gold medal winner in the show gardens, the Vestra Wealth Gray’s Garden, was a cool and elegant take on the work of Eileen Gray, the 1920s textile and furniture designer. The best small garden award was given to ‘Heathers in Harmony’ by William Quarmby, which reclaimed out of vogue heathers in a vertical planting and used level changes to great effect.
The first ever use of fungus at the show won designer and sculptor Daniel Lobb best conceptual garden. In ‘Landscape Obscured’, a 5m2 square of turf is slightly tilted to hint at an underground space. ‘I wondered what I could use to represent a larger landscape’, says Daniel. ‘I chose fungi for their sculptural qualities’. Rusting steel plinths house periscopes that allow the viewer to be transported to another world. Specialist grower Fundamentally Fungus supplied the mainly far eastern species, and also some rare or endangered UK types. The fungi are due to be harvested, cooked and eaten on the last day of the show.
Another young designer, Anoushka Feiler, tried to provoke expansive thought with her conceptual garden, ‘Excuse me while I kiss the sky’. A 45o mirrored surface encircles a mirrored globe over which hang plants upside down. A ground planting of Agapanthus ‘Blue Heaven’ develops the theme of wide horizons and ‘blue sky thinking’. Bokkse provided the Sky Planters, which retain the planting medium and have an integral reservoir.
A stand out conceptual garden was an evocation of young soldiers leaving the relative safety of their compound to go on foot patrol in Helmand, Afghanistan. ‘Enduring Freedom’ by Nete Hojlund and Corinne Sharpe consists of a rough terrain representing both a minefield and battered Afghan society. Simple posts of cast stone chart the numbers of coalition force mortalities over the ten years of the conflict. Poppies in a border of grasses are a symbol of war remembrance in the UK and in this context also evoke opium farming. The design team, both newly qualified and mature students (Nete, an interior designer and Corinne, a former production manager at the Royal Opera House) have already gained a number of commissions, including larger landscaping in the UK and abroad. On a social equality theme, the World Vision Garden by FlemonsWarlandDesign, had two domes of grass (one inverted) in a reflective pool, representing the ‘haves’ and have nots. This deservedly won a gold medal.
Reflecting the UK resurgence in growing fruit and veg, the RHS chose to present a 2000m2 Edible Garden. This showcased an orchard of quince, medlar and apples, a nuttery, and trained fruit trees in a formal area. A profusion of herbs and flowers, both culinary and medicinal, were a riot of colour, and beekeepers gave demonstrations. Rows of vines represented the increasing number of artisan vineyards in the UK, and a grove of olive trees looked to a future when, due to global warming, it may be possible to harvest olives commercially in the UK. In the small gardens category, a gold medal was awarded to the’ 5-A-Day Garden’, which can crop enough for the recommended portions of fruit and veg.
Other key themes across the show gardens include digital technology (‘My Life in the Cloud’ by former Google executive Nigel Jones,’ The Eye of the Internet Maze’ by Judy Cornford and ‘The Virtual Reality Garden’ by Bruce Waldock), the English countryside (‘Why We Care about Chalk Streams’ by Fiona Stephenson and ‘The Stockman’s Retreat’ by Chris Beardshaw) and health (The CoppaFeel! Garden by Hugo Bugg).
With over 50 designed gardens and over 600 exhibitors the Hampton Court Flower show is a packed day of inspiration for designers, landscapers and ordinary gardeners alike.
