Gardens of Plenty
Fruit and vegetables are under the spotlight at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show this year. There’s the new Growing Tastes marquee with fruit and veg displays and cookery demonstrations, but also many show gardens embracing the grow your own spirit.
Edibles in show gardens are nothing new, but this year many garden designers have chosen to weave fruit and veg into the ornamental design, instead of giving them a separate space. So, you find lettuce growing alongside daylilies and chard among agastache.
The Water Table garden by Southend-on-Sea Borough Council includes colourful chard, lettuces, spinach, beans and maize among the prairie-style planting of grasses, Echinacea and Achillea.
Another show garden incorporating veg into ornamental planting is the National Year of Reading Garden. This garden is inspired by the pleasure of reading and includes areas dedicated to Peter Pan, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Peter Rabbit – with a lettuce patch among the grass for any hungry rabbits passing by.
Horsey, Horsey is a small garden with an equine flavour; the garden is in the shape of a horseshoe. Courgettes, beans, fennel and cabbage happily co-exist with the floral planting, all thriving in well-rotted horse manure, of course.
The Dorset Cereals Edible Playground is a garden completely turned over to fruit, vegetables and herbs. Designer Nick Williams-Ellis hopes to show how a typical school could develop a productive garden and outdoor learning area. This garden also features a number of green initiatives including a wind-powered pump to run the watering system during the school holidays.