Hampton Court Palace Flower Show

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Exhibitions on both sides of the great canal

The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is the largest flower exhibition in the world. The show takes place regularly in early July and is hosted by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) at Hampton Court Palace in South West London. The exhibition shows show gardens, flower tents and pavilions, lectures and demonstrations. Erected on the north and south sides of the great canal in Hampton Court Park, it is the second major national exhibition after the Chelsea Flower Show , but has a different character and focuses more on environmental issues, growing your own food, vegetables and culinary arts and features at the same time the opportunity to buy garden accessories, plants and flowers.

Creation of the show

The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show was started by management consultant Adrian Boyd, who saw the opportunity to combine two organizations in a joint venture. The Ministry of the Environment had been split up in the 1980s, and one of the parts was the Historic Royal Palaces , which was looking for ways to increase its revenue and attract a larger audience. Also Network Southeast , one of the temporary mergers that resulted from the privatization of British Rail, was looking for ways to make their routes profitable. Boyd's idea was that Network Southeast should sponsor a flower show at Hampton Court and provide public transportation to Hampton Court train station. At the time, the RHS shows division was working on four new events for 1993, in Birmingham, Harrogate, Wembley and Glasgow.

The beginnings from 1990 to 1992

In July 1990, the first Hampton Court Palace Flower Show took place. Efforts were made to get people excited about the show and the wearers wore carnations in their hats to attract attention. Although the fair received comparatively little support from the trade, it attracted large crowds. The Südost network was pleased: "70 percent of the estimated 300,000 visitors used the rail and our sponsoring paid for that many times over".

RHS debated whether to help with the show, especially when Chelsea was reaching its capacity limit. The organizers said they would welcome RHS participation from 1992 onwards, and RHS members received a reduced admission price at the 1991 show. Adrian Greenoak, the show's horticultural director, achieved continuous improvement in standards; the 1991 show introduced a British Rose Festival in which the Royal National Rose Society and the British Rose Growers' Association participated.

In November 1992, Network Southeast announced that they would no longer support the show. There were a number of negotiations: Boyd, who had no rights to the show, had to participate in a tender. Stephen Bennett outlined the advantages of the RHS engagement: "We can reduce the costs enormously ... In addition to the savings in advertising costs through our extensive media network, we have an enormous amount of equipment." The Historic Royal Palaces accepted the RHS offer on condition that they pledged to keep certain employees on the payroll, including Adrian Greenoak. It was a risky endeavor because four new shows were already planned for 1993.

The RHS years, from 1993 until today

The first RHS Hampton Court Show was held in 1993 with support from the Daily Mail . The show was a notable success and the following event was named the Best Outdoor Event of 1994. With 10 acres of exhibition space there was room for significant expansion, and over the next several years a heritage tent was set up for the National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG) and its national collections - initially a rather quiet area that but the public interest grew steadily; Craft pavilions, which were the visitor's first greeting under Adrian Boyd, were gradually moved to a less prominent location; there was room for a couple of dozen show gardens and a separate area on the other side of the great canal for ten water gardens. In 1998, a garden was rebuilt in Hampton Court at the Royal Hospital for Neurodisability. While Chelsea remained the society's most prestigious exhibition, Hampton Court was the larger and was marketed as such. Within a few years, the investment in Hampton Court had more than paid for itself.

One of the highlights of the 2011 show was “The World Vision” garden by FlemonsWarLandDesign, which looked at the vision of children in poorer countries. Dan Lobb's “Land Obscured” concept garden invited visitors to the underground garden to view it from a new perspective through a periscope.

In 2012, a selection of gardens based on poems by well-known English poets, as well as a stunning rose tent modeled on Alice in Wonderland, were introduced.

Event period

A booth under construction in 2008

The event always takes place Tuesday through Sunday and usually ends on the second Sunday in July.

  • In 2007 the event took place from July 3rd to 8th.
  • In 2008 the event took place from July 8th to 13th.
  • In 2009 the event took place from July 7th to 12th.
  • In 2010 the event took place from July 6th to 11th.
  • In 2011 the event took place from July 5th to 10th.
  • In 2012 the event took place from July 3rd to 8th.
  • In 2013 the event took place from July 9th to 14th.
  • In 2014 the event took place from July 8th to 13th.
  • In 2015, the event took place from June 30th to July 5th.
  • In 2016, the event took place from July 5th to 10th.
  • In 2017 the event took place from July 4th to 9th.
  • In 2018 the event took place from July 3rd to 8th.

Gold winner 2016

  • Jacques Amands exhibition in the flower tent

  • A dog's life - a gold-winning garden

  • A life jacket floats in the water of the UNHCR Border Control garden.

  • World Vision Garden had curved lawns that floated in the air.

  • Begonias and dolphins from Blackmore & Langdon

The best concept garden of 2016 was Border Control by Tom Massey and John Ward: a flower garden surrounded by a moat and barbed wire fence, sponsored by the UNHCR .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jan Peter Gehrckens: Royal Gardens: Hampton Court. In: ard.de. ARD, May 21, 2018, accessed on July 12, 2018 .
  2. ^ RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. Accessed July 12, 2018 .
  3. ^ A b Elliott, Brent: The Royal Horticultural Society, A History 1804-2004 . In: The History Press . Phillimore & Co. Ltd, 2004, ISBN 1-86077-272-2 (English).
  4. ^ RHS website; 2013 awards. Retrieved July 13, 2018 .
  5. ^ RHS website; 2014 awards. Retrieved July 13, 2018 .
  6. ^ RHS website; 2015 awards. Retrieved July 13, 2018 .
  7. ↑ PumpkinBeth website (horticulturist and garden writer); RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2016. Accessed July 13, 2018 .
  8. ^ RHS website; 2017 awards. Retrieved July 13, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. Accessed July 12, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, 2016 - Conceptual garden highlights. BBC Two, 2016, accessed May 5, 2018 .

Web links

Commons : Hampton Court Palace Flower Show  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Coordinates: 51 ° 24 ′ 7.6 ″  N , 0 ° 19 ′ 36.1 ″  W.