RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival

Last year I had the thrill of attending the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. This year, I added to my Royal Horticultural Society experience by attending the Hampton Court Palace show. I don't think I was cognizant of the difference between the two shows. While Chelsea features fabulous show gardens by some of the best landscape designers in the world, Hampton Court is really about showcasing plants and products for the gardeners of the UK.

(Here's the link to read about my experience at Chelsea in 2024.)

The Hampton Court Festival takes place on the grounds of Hampton Court Palace, the home of Henry VIII, amongst others. Getting there is a bit of a challenge, because the roads of East Molesey aren't really geared to accommodate the thousands of people who flock there each year and though the local constabulary does its best to direct traffic and the organizers provide lots of parking, it's still a bit of a nightmare. We were staying in a rental which would ordinarily be about 15 minutes away but the bus trip took close to 90 minutes. We finally arrived and made our way past the Palace

to the festival grounds.

I was rather disappointed in the staff of the festival for their handling of admission. There were two lines and, as I'm sure you're aware, odds are that whichever line you choose, the other goes much faster. This was the case in spades! The security guards for our line must have thought there was a plot afoot to blow the place up because they searched every pocket of every bag of every person in line. I half expected a cavity search at one point. The other line's security was just taking a cursory glance at bags and letting everyone through. By the time we sussed this out, the queue for the fast line was about 200 feet long, so we stayed where we were and finally got in when a third line was opened which we hopped onto. Honestly, when you're expecting thousands of visitors, don't you plan for at least three lines and try to expedite things?

At last we made it to the festival grounds. There were several different areas to explore. The Show gardens featured the latest in garden trends and design. They were nice, but a bit underwhelming compared with Chelsea.

There was an area called "City Pocket Planting" that meant to show how to make the most of small spaces.

In several areas, lectures were taking place throughout the day. They addressed things like soil health, urban horticulture, growing and cooking seasonal produce, etc. and featured famous gardening experts. The British are really avid, enthusiastic gardeners and there are countless gardening shows on TV to prove it.

Most of the festival was devoted to commerce, of course. Plant Village was brimming with plants and flowers for sale and the Roses and Mints tent was a riot of of fragrance.

The Floral Marquee featured British growers showing off the latest cultivars they had developed. This was my favorite tent.

The growers are judged not only on the plants they develop and bring to the show but on how they are displayed. I'm not certain that the most elaborate displays sell the most plants on the day, but having a gold medal on your resume must help in the long run.

The dragon in this display proudly indicated that the grower was from Wales.

Best use of dis-used brass instruments here, I thought.

The biggest display areas were reserved for the sale of all things garden-related.

One of the most popular tents was the "Lifestyle Market" which had virtually nothing to do with gardens, but featured clothing, jewelry, pottery, shoes, and art. There was also a tent where Roebuck wines was selling English Sparkling wine. Yes, I had some and yes, it was delicious. English wines are on the ascent, thanks to climate change and English sparklers are truly terrific.

I came to realize that this festival is really geared to locals who who come to buy, buy, buy. I'm glad I went, but if I visit an RHS show again, it will definitely be Chelsea.