RHS Hampton Court Flower Show takes place in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace. With the Wimbledon finals happening as well this weekend, south London is a busy place to be! Hampton Court Palace, if not always the flower show, can at least claim a tennis connection.
The Palace has its own indoor Royal Tennis Court, the oldest surviving ‘real’ tennis court still in regular use in England. It was part of the original Palace as rebuilt for Cardinal Wolsey in the early sixteenth century; before he thought it politic to give it to his lord and master Henry VIII. Henry Tudor must have played ‘real’ or ‘royal’ tennis in this court; he was quite an athlete in his youth.
The court was last refurbished in the reign of Charles I, another tennis loving monarch. ‘Real’ or ‘royal’ tennis is so-called to distinguish it from ‘lawn’ tennis – which is the game played at Wimbledon.
Interestingly, as American Independence Day also occurred during this last week, there are ‘royal tennis’ clubs in both Boston (home of the Tea Party) and Washington in the USA. Although it’s known as ‘court tennis’ in America; not surprisingly!
But back to RHS Hampton Court Flower Show. This is one of our favourite flower shows, and this year was no exception.
The white garden at Sissinghurst is world famous; these white metal steps would be a stylish addition to a white garden with a change of level.
We found the small spaces of the conceptual gardens an attraction. The larger show gardens are lovely to wander through and admire, but the conceptual gardens have the ability to focus one’s mind on a particular idea.
We both had favourites but were agreed that the Coral Desert in its blue glass tomb for coral reefs was very evocative in getting over the point that coral reefs will become dead deserts if climate change and pollution are not got under control and fast. Cacti and succulents acted the part of the endangered coral – it would have been a bit pointless to have dragged coral off its reef for the show…
A snail shell shaped bench added an interesting touch.
We were also intrigued by coppiced eucalyptus (we will be trying this) and the purple water seen in a few of the gardens. Yes, you did read that right, purple water, with a bubble fountain so you could see it was really purple.
Still with the purple (you may have noticed it’s a colour we like!) these lights were stunning.
Finally, it was quite special to watch a new worker bee emerging from her cocoon of wax to join her sisters in the hive. Worker bees live for only 6 weeks and boy do they work hard; without them we wouldn’t have so much of the food and flowers we take for granted; and bees like coral are at risk of extinction.
As for gardens and the great pavilion in previous years, you could download our eBook,”RHS Hampton Court Flower Show – Plews View 2012-16” Available directly from our website. And if you would like to talk with us about designing your own ‘Hampton Court garden’, please get in touch!
