Show gardens, gardens with a message, and flowers everywhere, there’s plenty to see at RHS Hampton 2021
In normal years, by the time RHS Hampton comes around many of us on the show garden circuit are a little jaded having already done Cardiff, Malvern, Chelsea, Chatsworth and BBC Gardeners’ World Live.
This year, not only is RHS Hampton 2021 the first major show of the year, it’s the first RHS event for nearly two years. The excitement this has generated was evident throughout press day with an overwhelming sense of relief that things are starting up again.
There aren’t as many show gardens as 2019 – five instead of 11 – but the RHS has brought in new ideas and funded more feature gardens so there’s no sense of the show being smaller.
If one garden sums up the return to RHS Hampton for me it was ‘A Santuary from Covid’ by Sandridge Road Allotments in the section of the show given over to grow your own. Gardens have been a refuge for many over the past 18 months and this small space is the perfect retreat.
In fact, the allotments were one of my favourite places, full of ideas and inspiration for visitors.
Of course, the display giving us all envy was the RHS No Dig Allotment Demonstration Garden. Created with by Charles Dowding and Stephanie Hafferty, it shows how you can grow vegetables without disturbing the soil.
The garden of Carien van Boxtel is the inspiration behind the RHS Cut Flower Garden feature. Garden designer Carien turned to growing flowers for cutting after suffering personal loss and long Covid during the pandemic.
Tom Stuart Smith is the subject of this year’s ‘Iconic Horticultural Hero’ and the feature garden is a perennial meadow interspersed with Mediterranean shrubs that’s designed to withstand the higher temperatures and lack of rain brought about by climate change – neither were in evidence on press day. I particularly liked the use of Echinacea pallida, pictured at the top of this blog.
A New Section
New this year are the Get Started gardens, small spaces for new gardeners and designed by designers who were making their RHS Hampton debut.
‘Punk Rockery’ was inspired by designer Amanda Grimes’ experience of working at London homes with no rear access where everything has to go through the house. To reduce the mess and cost of removing existing hard landscaping, she has reutilised it, including in seating, plant display features and the rockery.
“It’s perfect for beginners and perfect for our changing climate,” she said.
This year, RHS Hampton 2021 has a couple of Global Impact Gardens that I particularly liked. The Canal and River Trust’s ‘Message in a Bottle’ was an upbeat representation of how we can all do something to stop plastic pollution.
‘The Fashion Footprint Garden’ by Baz Grainger looks at the impact fashion has on the environment and what’s being done to limit it. The ‘wall’ is made with recycled fabric, gabions are filled with old clothes and the two water features represent the amount of water needed to produce one pair of jeans.
More divisive is ‘Extinction’ by Felicity O’Rourke, which polarised people who saw it. Part of the Global Impact Garden section, the crashed plane represents something that is both an achievement and a threat to mankind because of its effect on climate change and the way it contributed to the spread of Covid.
Designed to shock and provoke discussion, it certainly achieved its aim but many felt it was insensitive to those who had been affected by such disasters.
Mostly I like gardens for ideas. This is on ‘A Place to Meet Again’, by Mike Long in the Lifestyle Gardens. It has an interesting mix of planting and hard landscaping, the latter all using recycled materials.
‘The Communication Garden’ by Amelia Bouquet is supporting Mental Health UK and looks at the importance of talking for mental wellbeing.
The small pool in a container is an idea that would fit into the smallest of gardens.
The Best Show Garden award went to Tom Simpson with ‘The Cancer Research UK Legacy Garden’. It had an interesting figure of eight design with a curved boardwalk wrapped around sunken areas and in places appearing to float above the planting.
In the Floral Marquee
The floral marquee has fewer exhibitors than usual, a consequence of Covid uncertainity in the industry. However, there’s still plenty to see.
Plant Heritage has organised displays of some of its National Collections, including one of aspidistra. One side of the display is set out as a Victorian parlour while the other has old photographs where an aspidistra has a cameo role.
The Master Growers for RHS Hampton 2021 are Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants and their display highlights not only the range of plants they grow but the history of the nursery.
I can always count on seeing something for the first time in an RHS floral marquee and this time it was something on Jacques Amand’s gold-medal winning display. New to me but something I may well add to my borders.
I also rather liked the colour of this, spotted on W&S Lockyer’s display.
And There Are Roses
Being Hampton there were roses. The Festival of Roses was in it’s usual marquee that casts a strange yellow light, making it near impossible to photograph.
However, there were roses outside both in the rose beds and flower arrangements of the RHS Rose Tea Garden, designed by Nikki Tibbles.
David Austin Roses is also outside with three beds creating a ‘Rainbow Tribute to the NHS’. It seems the pandemic wasn’t so far away after all.
RHS Hampton 2021 runs until Sunday July 11. For more information, visit the website.