Taking place from 2-8 July 2018, RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is unmissable if you have an interest in horticulture. It’s a lovely day out by the River Thames in a relaxed setting.
Hampton Court Palace Flower Show Highlights
This year, one of the highlights is the Evolve: Through the Roots of Time exhibit. Situated inside a dome, it takes visitors on a journey from present day meadows to Jurassic jungles and further back to barren landscapes predominant over 500 million years ago.
Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf has created a delightful walk through feature opposite the royal palace. It features orange Achillea, mauve Lythrum, pink Echinacea and silver blue sea holly. The plants will be relocated to RHS Garden Wisley after the show closes.
You can also walk through a meadow of purple Verbena bonariensis, named Swathes of Purple, next to the Long Water fountain.
Show Gardens
There are some great Show Gardens this year including several for charities. Some of our favourites are:
Bursting Busy Lizzie Garden
This garden was designed by Matthew Childs and is sponsored by B&Q. It picked up a Gold Medal at the show, for its clever use of colour. It features a new breed of the busy lizzie plant, also known as impatiens, in six different shades.
The Children with Cancer UK: Mr. Happy, Mr. Worry Hill
This distinctive garden features a split hill and house, with one side symbolizing worry and the other symbolizing happiness. On Mr Happy’s side, plants include Echinacea and Rudbeckia in vibrant shades of yellow and orange. In Mr Worry’s garden, stone circles represent sadness and the colours of the plants are hues of blue and purple. The garden represents the huge progress made in child cancer treatment and also the ongoing research to eradicate it.
The Limbcare Garden
This peaceful haven offers a message of help and support to the UK’s amputees. Limbcare is a national charity founded by Ray Edwards MBE, the UK’s longest surviving quad amputee. It is one of the rare gardens at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show that members of the public can walk around. You enter the garden via a brook with calming water, then pass over a bridge which symbolizes safe passage. At the centre of the garden, a striking sculpted pair of uplifted hands catches your eye. To the rear, there’s a quiet area with fountains to promote healing. Designed by Edward Mantis and landscaped by David Sutton, it features Amelanchier and Prunus trees, a woodland glade and a fragrant arch of Hosta and Cardiocrinum. Once the show is finished, the garden will be moved to Limbcare’s Wellbeing Centre, for which a fundraising effort is ongoing, where it will be an integral element of the courtyard.
The RNIB Community Garden
This is a sensory experience with an abundance of scented flowers as well as grasses such as Pennisetum villosum and Stipa tenuissima.
World Gardens
There are 4 World Gardens at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2018 including The Orgeon Garden and The Charleston & South Carolina Garden from the USA.
Spain showcases Rías de Galicia: A Garden at the End of the Earth and the rugged coastline of Galicia.
The Santa Rita Living La Vida 120 Garden has a Mediterranean focus with Arubutus unedo trees and an oxide-yellow steel wall. Designer Alan Rudden was inspired by a trip to Chile as a guest of Santa Rita wines.
Conceptual Gardens and Gardens for a Changing World
This thought-provoking category showcases issues that the world is facing and also features conceptual gardens such as the one below.
Apeiron: The Dibond® Garden
This immersive space is an artwork as well as a garden. Enter the rusting steel box and you’ll discover a meadow surrounded by mirrored walls. It feels like the garden is stretching as far as the eye can see. It was created by Alex Rainford-Roberts using Dibond® mirror, which is an aluminium composite material that weighs half as much as a glass mirror.
Lifestyle Gardens
There’s also a new category for 2018, the Lifestyle Gardens, which aim to show how a garden can mirror the owner’s personality. There are four gardens including a family garden and an entertaining garden.
Schools’ Scarecrow Competition
Following the theme of You Are What You Eat, this competition involved schools in the South East and there were some brilliant entries.
Practical Information
- Dates – Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2018 takes place from 2 to 8 July 2018. Preview Evening – 2 July. 3-4 July – RHS members. 5-8 July – RHS members and non-members
- Opening hours – 3-7 July: 10 am to 7.30 pm. 8 July: 10 am to 5.30 pm.
- Tickets
- Food and Drink – Dig In Restaurant, Garden Cafe, Kings Food Court, Long Water Deli (North and South), Palace Stage, Food Court, Palace Kitchen by James Tanner, picnic enclosures at the Waterfront Oasis, Seafood Bar by Caviar House, Thames Food Court, Village Green Food Court, Waterfront Oasis North, Waterfront Oasis South
- Drinking Water – several taps are located within the grounds
- Cash machines – several within the grounds
- Visitor Information Centre – located near to the Thames Gate
- Pets – guide dogs are permitted to enter the showground – pets are not. Dogs must not be left unattended in vehicles
- Plant and product creches – store your purchases at the creches, near the Country Living Magazine Pavilion and the Floral Marquee Entrance
- Sell-off – from 4 pm on Sunday, display plants and products are sold off by many exhibitors
Getting to Hampton Court Palace Flower Show
- By Train – 36 minute train ride from London Waterloo to Hampton Court then 15 minute walk
- By Underground or Bus – District line to Richmond underground station, then R68 bus to Hampton Court
- By Ferry – From Hampton Court Station, Kingston Bridge and Richmond to Molesey Lock Ferry next to the show entrance
- By Car – Parking costs £16 per day at the Green car park at Hampton Court Green
- By Bicycle – Bike racks are located at the Thames Gate Entrance
Which is your favourite garden or feature?
Read all our garden reviews here
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