Wasn’t it Bob and Roberta Smith who was waving one of his paintings proclaiming gardens as the new art galleries around recently? Where were we? Well, we happened to be at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival on the day before it all opened to the flower-crazed crowds, last minute bits of gardening and arranging are abound, no squalor alive here, we’re in the throws a not very garden friendly heatwave, the deck chairs are set out and waiting, the fountains are on, the plants are toughening it out in the sun.

The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, is an annual horticultural event held at Hampton Court Palace over on the outer edges of London. It’s a celebration of gardening, featuring show gardens, floral displays, expert talks, workshops, and yes, lots of shopping opportunities. This year, the festival takes place from July 1st to July 6th and well there is art here, of course there is; gardening as art, the art of planting, of seeds planted. We’ve done what we were here to do and we’re having a slightly rushed look sround before everything is locked down for the night and the calm before the people…

Five moments from our sneak around the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival…

1: The Hummingbird Haven is part garden, part installation piece, designed by Alison Shadwell-Williams and Yvonne Price and nectar-rich oranges and red dancing with (paper) the flight paths of Hummingbirds and the origami art of Japanese artist Taro, who has folded so many birds and each one slightly different. The movement is beautiful, the colour deliciously subtle, what more needs to be said that the images don’t say for themselves?  A delight, a delightful piece of art…

2: Ella Clark and Sally Holder‘s story telling piece that uses reclaimed building material, cocoons seem to be a thing this year and of course reclaiming unwanted used material to as an important part of a piece of art is right up my street (all those leaves that grow on the things we waste and such). Once again there are some beautiful lines here, and once again the colour is subtle, refined, relaxed, beautifully quiet, the aroma of lavender and rosemary. Made in conjunction with builders reclamation yard Corley Reclamation and featuring that reclaimed teak, it is just very very pleasing and for so many reasons…   

3: The Subaru Cocoon designed by architect Mike McMahon and gardener and designer Jewlsy Mathews does take the eye and the judges clearly agree, it has won a best in show gold medal something or other – “Once covering 20% of the UK but now reduced to just 1%, temperate rainforests are one of the country’s most fragile and overlooked ecosystems. The Cocoon distils the essence of these landscapes, balancing naturalistic planting with a contemporary interpretation of the walled garden”

A perforated jali wall defines the space – enclosing yet open, structured yet porous. Crafted from K-Briq, a pioneering brick made from recycled building waste with just 5% of the embodied carbon of traditional bricks, we’re told it “underscores the garden’s sustainable ethos. The bricks’ natural holes serve as insect hotels, offering sanctuary for pollinators, while lush planting in the top trough enhances biodiversity”, it looks very inviting, that bridge over the water does call you in to the “planting weaves through the wall, softening its form, echoing the untamed beauty of the rainforest, a place quiet contemplation. The furniture, sculpted from recycled paper “continues the garden’s material honesty. Meanwhile, a palette of flowering plants enriches the ecosystem, drawing pollinators and sustaining local wildlife” which should be good news for all foxes out there. Do like that bridge over the moat, do like the way that wall is put together and used, the interaction of it all as well as the lines, the island, the cocoon…  

4: That giant Willow Woman or dare we say giant Wicker Woman that kind of has you wondering in there is going to be some kind of sacrifice in sunny Surrey as a climax to the festival? There she is almost silhouetted against the blazing afternoon sun demanding attention. Actually she’s there as part of a celebration of the rich history of fashion and textile design in Kingston-Upon-Thames, something that I might just have a very slight connection with as part of my (slightly flowery) textile designer past. Kingston is pretty much where you find Hampton Court Palace and  those lush mossy mannequins are glorious. There a point, or several points about sustainability in fashion being made, and there are of course so many connections to be made in terms of natural dying, plants, weaving, textile and fashion, mostly though, she just looks wonderful as a piece of art just standing there in the sun.    

The Willow Woman is the work of Mark Antony Haden Ford and Rebecca Ford, Two environmental artists who weave drawings with found and grown natural materials in the realm of environmental art installation. “The two Sussex natives, with their site-specific ephemeral works are inspired by a strong interest in the archaeology, geography and mystery of the natural world, drawing on ancient traditions and techniques of willow craft and woodland conservation”.

5: Vertigro – The big installation piece and the vertical wall of leaves is of course wonderful, the layers, the shapes, the Herb Robert! (well Herb Robert does feature rather a lot in my own art as some may have noticed). The possibilities of vertical urban gardening and a garden installation that features towering vertical growth, something that might well be happening if we don’t get some kind of handle on this climate crisis that is almost beyond us already. Hey, if you think the Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival  is all twee flowers, Pimms and politeness ten think again, there’s some challenging art in here as well as a question or two being thrown out.      

“Vertigo aims to re-imagine the possibilities of the urban vertical planting habitat and its place in our ever-warming and polluted towns and cities. The garden will feature towering, vertical planting – an undulating corridor of living wall and climbers in a heliotropic race to the light. The plant palette will be peppered with species that accentuate a vertical arching growth, bending towards the sunshine, emphasising the extreme conditions of vertical planting.  The garden will celebrate the interface between people, nature, and the urban environment – connecting nature with architecture by adding drama and texture to the urban palette, while highlighting the benefits of urban greening and carbon sequestration that living walls provide. Light, form and movement are all at play within the garden, which will appear to wax and wane with the sun’s path – plants straining with the arc of the sun and the shadows created by the totemic line of climbers morphing the garden’s appearance”.

Vertigro has been (beautifully, challengingly) designed by Adolfo Harrison and built by Armando Raish

And there are of course some delicious displays from some of the plant dealers and flower pushers, some (semi unintentional?) art is some of the arrangements (or is it always art?), the nature and freedom of Proctor’s Nursery display stands out as well as the delight of the layers of shape and colour, while those oldschool rose fragrances that come with all the history and tradition of the Harkness Rose Company. The tent full of roses at Hampton Court is always a treat, although is it maybe a little less thrilling this year? Last year was a lot to live up to, do things seem a little downscaled this year? Oh look, downscaled or not, there’s detail to delight in, gardening as high art, it is a bit a treat t obe in here before the crowds arrive (sw)   

RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival is found at Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey, KT8 9AU. The festival is on until 6th July (the last day sell off of many of the plants can be very interesting!)

As always, do click on an image to see the whole thing or to run the slide show and a small taste of it all…