Make a beeline for the Floral Marquee at RHS Hampton and be swept away on a wave of sights and scents that will blow your garden gloves off. Here are a few of the tempting displays.
Meet some of the exhibitors
First-timer The Tetbury Flower Company brings a seasonal selection of cut flower blooms from its flower farm in Gloucestershire. Owner Rachel Golding Barrett successfully applied for the £2000 RHS New Exhibitor Grant and is thrilled to be at the show. “The RHS has been hugely supportive and, as a new exhibitor, I have been assigned some mentors – Vicky and Richard from Plantagogo, who have won numerous RHS Chelsea Flower Show golds – and they recently travelled down from Cheshire to give me some help and advice and see the mock-up of the stand.” Rachel’s display at the show recreates a summer cutting garden at its abundant best – brimming with colour, texture, and scent as well as a sense of both peace and movement.
Farmyard Nurseries from Wales delighted all with a mystical woodland wonderland, featuring their collection of Sarracenia alongside shrubs and perennials.
Burncoose Nurseries, our Master Grower, invites you behind the scenes for a rare glimpse into nursery life. Here, visitors can see into their propagation tunnel, see misting units at work, and as usual, view a selection of unique trees, shrubs, and Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.
Plant Heritage welcomes first-time exhibitors
The Mintopia exhibit of Mentha (mint) depicts Mintopia’s own journey in four quadrants. The first quadrant shares its goal as a National Plant Collection. The second introduces the ‘intmintmint’ The variety of living organisms (plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms) in a particular environment. Boosting the biodiversity of your garden has many benefits, including supporting wildlife, improving soil health and reducing the likelihood of pest and disease problems.
Botanica Plants are principally displaying a full range of Santolina species and cultivars as part of a ‘garrigue-style’ setting, together with other ‘dry garden’ plants. Jenny Prosser is displaying a National Collection of Liatris – perennials which she says used to be popular with florists but fell out of fashion. They are A native plant is one that originated or arrived naturally in a particular place without human involvement. In the British Isles, native plants are those that were here during the last ice age or have arrived unaided since.
Melanie Lewis brings her National Collection of Aeonium species, interspecific hybrids and cultivars. “My aim is to show for the first time, quite possibly in the world, Aeonium interspecific hybrids (which only occur in the wild and in niche regions). Aeonium are some of the most threatened plants on the planet and these hybrids are exceedingly rare.”
Hardys Cottage Garden Plants from Hampshire return once again, proudly continuing their legacy as the only exhibitor to have showcased at every single show since it started – what a legacy. After a long hiatus, Andy’s Air Plants from Penzance in Cornwall makes a welcome return to RHS Shows for the first time since before the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, with a vibrant display of air plants and bromeliads.
