In July, the RHS shows take part at Hampton Court Palace and at Tatton Park, Greater Manchester. Each show has a distinct and different feel to it – obviously as the season progresses and different plants reach their height, but also in the surroundings and atmosphere in these beautiful locations.
At Hampton Court in 2023, I was invited to photograph garden designer Queenie Chan’s garden for the ‘Get Started’ category, open to those just beginning their design career. Her Lunar Garden was a real highlight, capturing much attention with its calm, lush green & white colour scheme, circle motifs and Milky Way patterns. You can read Queenie’s brief for the garden here.
Hampton Court Palace Show happened to open on the day of the full moon – appropriately for a park full of deer, the ‘Buck Moon’ of July. Designer Queenie Chan requested special access after hours so that we could capture the white planting as intended – gently, reflectively, by moonlight. However, she had another surprise in store, as her antiqued feature mirror ‘moon’ at the top of the garden was fitted with LED lighting, only visible once twilight fell…
The garden looked breathtaking by moonlight, and then transformed once more as the first sunlight arrived next morning. Grab the plant list here.
Later in July, it is the turn of Tatton Park in the north-west to host their RHS show. There is always a wonderful atmosphere and many practical ideas to take away – and lots of shopping! Here, I was working with the wonderful team from J Parker’s, and Rachel Platt who had designed their ‘Chained To Tech’ garden. Read more about it on their website here.
J Parker’s also requested photos of their beautiful trade stand as they were celebrating 90 years of business in the gardening industry. Their brilliant floral display was designed by Hannah, the talent behind the ‘How to…’ videos of top tips that you’ll find on the J Parker’s Bulbs Instagram feed.
Also at Tatton Park, I took the opportunity to visit Jason Williams’ (The Cloud Gardener) ‘Ginnel Garden’. It was designed as a garden with purpose – to transform the alleyways of an inner city area and be transplanted to those residents once the show had ended.
I also popped over to visit the Ceramic Botanist – whose work I’ve long admired. Louise Condon‘s award-winning stall for RHS Tatton Park was busy with visitors, but I was able to record the beauty of the designs for her. The flower-imprint lamps were causing quite a stir, they’re stunning!
Do let me know if you’ll be visiting any of these shows in 2024 – I’d love to see you there!
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