News
News stories live from the show
Images: Michael Walter/Troika
Results of the RHS/BBC Online People's Choice Award
Visitors to the BBC Online gardening website have been voting in their thousands for their favourite Show or Water Garden and their favourite new rose all week.
Winner of the People's Choice for Show or Water Garden 2006
Banrock Station – Banrock Station Wines/Anglo Aquarium Plant Co
Winner of the People's Choice for New Rose 2006
‘Growing Hope' introduced by World of Roses
Water garden Banrock Station, designed by first-time designers Loi Man and Jaonathan Martin, was a clear favourite and confirmed the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show's reputation for irresistible water gardens. The garden brings to life the real Banrock Station in South Australia , once a run-down sheep station and now a sustainable vineyard.
New rose ‘Growing Hope', launched at the show by World of Roses, is a deep red floribunda which grows to around 80cm (32in) and has a powerful fragrance. It will help raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis Trust, the only national charity in the UK funding research, supporting people with Cystic Fibrosis and their families .
You still have a chance to see these winners and many more RHS medal winning gardens and floral exhibits over last two days of the show. The show is open from 10am on Sunday 9 July and closes at 5.30pm (7.30pm on Saturday 8 July). Those visiting on Sunday can experience the bargains to be during the great sell-off from 4.30pm. Tickets can be bought on the gate; ticket details.
Fox gives verdict on show garden
A crafty fox gave its own verdict on one show garden during the evening of Friday 7 July. Show organisers arrived on site to find that a fox had dug up all three sand cones in Alan Gardner's RHS Silver-Gilt awarded garden Land Art. The garden, which includes three sand cones of 2m, 3m and 4m in diameter, and carefully constructed at a 33 degree angle so as not to collapse, was destroyed overnight by the nocturnal creature. As Alan was not on site, a helpful groundsman who was preparing another area of the show, reconstructed the three sand cones ready for the thousands of visitors due to arrive on Saturday.
‘Veg out' this weekend
Catch the last two days of the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show on Saturday 8 or Sunday 9 July and grab some bargains in the process. Tickets are available on the gate on both days; ticket details.
The final weekend hosts the Summer Fruit & Vegetable Competition in the Growing & Showing Marquee. Marquee sponsors, New Covent Garden Food Co, has created a special Most Meritorious Dish of Vegetables Award for the exhibitor with the most outstanding dish of vegetables in any of the competition classes.
Alongside the competition entries, the gardeners from RHS Garden Wisley are exhibiting a special display of container crops in the Marquee to demonstrate how to grow a range of fresh produce in a small space. Established growers such as the Dorset Blueberry Company, The Garlic Farm, herb-specialist Newlands Nursery and chilli pepper grower Cookoo Box Nursery are displaying the best quality produce.
Those visiting on Sunday 9 July have the chance to bag some bargains in the great sell off starting at 4.30pm for the final hour of the show. You could be taking home part of an award-winning show garden, or plants from an RHS Gold Medal winning display.
Children are welcome at this family-friendly show with entry free for under-5s and only £5 for children five to 15. For parents who want a break for up to two hours a free crèche is available for children aged two to nine years old.
Favourite Five
The floral marquees are bursting with blooms from some of the UK's best nurseries and as the show continues, visitors are picking the brains of the exhibitors, and picking up some fantastic flowers.
Five medal-winning nurseries from the show have identified the plants that are flying off their shelves the fastest:
- Squire's Garden Centre: Cosmos ‘Chocamocha'. A new compact form of the favourite chocolate cosmos; the deep maroon flowers smell of chocolate!
- Park Green Nurseries: Hosta ‘Whirlwind'
- Cookoo Box Nursery: Capsicum ‘Purple Tiger'. A medium-hot chilli with purple flowers and purple fruit.
- Winchester Growers: Dahlia ‘Giraffe'. An old variety which is now a firm favourite.
- R A Meredith Blooms Ltd: Lychnis ‘Jenny'
Small, but perfectly formed
If you think you're starting to feel your age, spare a thought for one of the prized specimens on the Pinewood Nurseries stand. Taking centre-stage on the Silver-Gilt medal-winning stand, is a 180 year old Ficus retusa. This ancient bonsai may be petite, but it has certainly travelled and in its lifetime has made an appearance at more than 300 flower shows.
Dazzling dahlias
At the Cornwall-based nursery, Winchester Growers, there is a passion for dahlias that would be hard to rival. The nursery's display boasts a magnificent array of colours and cultivars, which won the company a Silver-Gilt medal. Alongside the old favourites, this year Wincester Growers has brought several new cultivars to the show, including Dahlia ‘Keith's Pet', which was discovered by New Zealander Dr Keith Hamnett. While it is not commercially available yet, it is due for propagation soon.
New hosta for an ‘Old Geezer'
Park Green Nurseries is launching a new hosta to add to its Radio 2 collection. Hosta ‘Terry Wogan' joins H. ‘Sarah Kennedy' and H. 'Fran Godfrey' to create a Radio 2 Trio. H. ‘Terry Wogan' produces a mound of emerald green, non-variegated foliage and will reach about 38cm (15in) in height.
Park Green was awarded its 50th RHS Gold Medal for the exhibit in the Floral Marquees.
Squires Nurseries is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. The champagne corks will be popping when the anniversary date falls on Saturday 8 July. Squires Nurseries will be in the Floral Marquee all week displaying and selling plants. Tickets to the show are available on the gate Thursday to Sunday.
Stars shine at the show
Numerous celebrities have been spotted at this year's show.
TV presenter Charlie Dimmock attends a photocall in the Festival of Roses Marquee to mark the introduction of 20 new roses.
TV garden presenter and member of the BBC's Groundforce team, Tommy Walsh with students of St Edmunds School Canterbury, John Mann [aged 17] and Hermione Jones [aged 17] on The Music Garden. The garden has been designed by pupils of the school who used the musical theme to mirror the musical fame of the school.
Actress Trudie Goodwin in the Festival of Roses Marquee.
TV presenter Gloria Hunniford on the BBC Radio Cornwall small garden.
Medals announced
View the complete list of winners
The ‘Garden of Eden', complete with ‘Adam' and ‘Eve' actors clad in fig leaves, a seaside celebration and a tropical spring have captured the heat of the moment and the judges' votes.
New designer Wayne Richards, who has created his first garden for an RHS show in the new category Conceptual Gardens, was awarded an RHS Gold Medal and the Tudor Rose for Best Conceptual Garden. Danger of Need, an anagram of Garden of Eden, combines technology, art and nature to create an interactive installation exploring themes of temptation, exclusion and voyeurism. The lushly planted garden is surrounded by walls of peep-holes and television screens and a recurring apple motif.
The RHS created the new Conceptual Gardens category to encourage new designers to push the boundaries of garden design and not be afraid to be challenging and provocative.
An RHS Gold Medal and Tudor Rose for Best Show Garden went to Southend-on-Sea Borough Council with The Cockler's Garden, a celebration of Essex's fishing industry which was at its height during the 1900s. The judges praised the garden for its use of drought-tolerant maritime plants common to the Essex coastline and its evocative spirit of the seaside.
An RHS Gold Medal and Tudor Rose Award for Best Water Garden went to Claudia de Yong, designer of Dorset Water Lily Company's Hot Springs garden. The garden has been designed to illustrate how, with an increasingly warm climate, many semi-tropical and exotic plants can now be grown outdoors.
Claire Whitehouse also won an RHS Gold Medal for Christian Aid's Wish you were here…? garden, which depicts the tourist image of Jamaica compared with the reality and how the charity is helping to educate young Jamaicans about HIV. The judges felt the planting was “stunning in its variety, colour and perfection.”
Fruit and vegetable champion, Medwyn's of Anglesey, won an RHS Gold Medal and the Tudor Rose for Best Floral Marquee Exhibit. Medwyn Williams, who recently suffered an accident, has been managing the staging of his exhibit via his hospital bed. Most Creative Exhibit in the Floral Marquees went to Fir Trees Pelargonium Nursery. Best Small Garden was awarded to Merrist Wood Campus of Guildford College for Immaculate Square. The American Museum Mayflower Garden, which tells the story of how the early plant hunters transported plants back from the Americas, won an RHS Gold Medal and an award for Most Creative Garden.
Preview Day
The heat was turned up on Preview Day, Monday, as the temperature reached 33°C. The majestic corner of Greater London enjoyed an Australian feel as Anglo Aquarium and Banrock Station Wines were visited by Little Roo the hand-reared wallaby and a didgeridoo player for their photocall.
Other celebrities enjoying the sunshine included Ruby Wax, Richard E Grant, Dame Vivienne Westwood, Cliff Richard and Helen Mirren. The Mayor of London, Ken Livingston, made an appearance on his aptly named Sunshine Garden which demonstrates how to have a beautiful garden using little water.
A record 20 new roses were launched in the Festival of Roses marquee with a number of well-known faces viewing the new varieties. Fern Britton accepted ‘Fern's Rose' from Bill LeGrice Roses.
The day ended with a Best of British themed Charity Gala Evening with fireworks and The Fab Beetles providing entertainment into the night.