Plant combinations fascinate me, so I loved the way these flowers, foliage and billowing grasses were painting their lines and colours against the textured background of a gravel mulch in the most alluring feature garden at this year’s Hampton Court Flower Show.
The effect previewed the romantic, soft planting trend that would be taken further at the Tatton Park Show a few weeks later.
The plants pictured here include:
Allium sphaerocephalon (drumstick allium; purple)
Galactities tomentosa alba (milk thistle; creamy-white)
Verbena officinalis var grandiflora ‘Bampton’ (vervain Bampton; lavender-pink)
Erigeron ‘Dimity’ (fleabane; pink)
Nepeta racemosa ‘Walker’s Low’ (catmint; lavender-blue)
Santolina chamaecyparissus (cotton lavender; yellow)
Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass)
Unlike the Lifetime Achievement award at the Oscars, where the winner merely gets a statuette, when a person is named Iconic Horticultural Hero by the Royal Horticulture Society, they get to design a garden at one of the country’s most prestigious flower shows, the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival.
It was no mean garden, either. Carol Klein’s Iconic Horticultural Hero Garden encompassed an array of habitats, including hedgerow, meadow, moor and mountain, seaside, a vegetable patch, wetland and woodland.
During the show, a lengthy queue of visitors snaked outside and eventually through the garden. This is Britain, after all.
While Carol Klein is reported to be slightly embarrassed to have been named RHS Iconic Horticultural Hero 2023 (the title has the unwieldiness that characterises many RHS titles, setting aside the Hero/Heroine question), her recognition is well-deserved. Carol’s heart is in exactly the right place, and her northern, down-to-earth approach serves her well.
I met her many years ago at the nursery when working at David Austin Roses. Carol and I were following Michael Marriott through a gap in the hedgerow as he was explaining, ‘Here are our trial fields where our most promising seedlings are grown on…’. We were all equally horrified to discover a small flock of sheep peacefully rampaging through the roses, as only sheep can.
So my strongest memory of Carol, one of the nation’s best loved gardening presenters, will always be of her running around, helping us persuade sheep they should return to their own field and leave our potential new varieties alone.
I’m so glad she had the chance to use the RHS’s resources to inspire and enchant us.
The part of the garden I’m highlighting here was the sun-loving, drought-tolerant ‘seaside’ planting that Carol created with the Beth Chatto team.
As our climate warms, the palette of plants that are happy in our conditions will change, whether we like it or not. Anyone looking to get more familiar with choice plants for a warmer climate might like to check out the full seaside planting list at the foot of this post on Beth Chatto’s website which shows how plants were prepared for the ‘seaside’ area of the show garden.
The RHS website has pictures and information about the garden, including a full, if provisional, plant list, or you can follow Carol on Instagram to find our more about her work.
Susan Rushton 
Wonderful color combinations. I like the story of the sheep and how Carol pitched in to chase the sheep away from the roses. Yes, down to earth.
While there was plenty of alarm in real life, in memory it seems very bucolic – a happening that could have inspired Marlowe to work in an extra stanza around his ‘beds of roses’.
Carol’s garden was by far the best attraction at the Hampton Court FS. I was surprised to find it tucked to the side of the showgrounds into such a humble and difficult location, but in the end the extra challenge emphasised Carol’s great talent and acumen. Once I stepped inside, it was pure magic.
It would have been so much fun to see you in the garden. I found a four leaved clover growing in one of them, and I’d like to think this, but the experience is more of a blur than I would like. It was busy when we were there and you are conscious of the need to move on to fairly share the experience with others in the queue behind you. I seem to have the start of one less busy garden fused in my mind to the end of another.
These all look like something Tiffany would turn into stained glass. How beautiful! I am particularly taken by the names: drumstick Allium, milk thistle, feather grass — one can almost sense the visual by reading the name. As for the sheep in the roses, I can only cringe. I hope you persuaded them to snack elsewhere — permanently. Your advice to start looking for more heat-tolerant plants is duly noted. Good idea!
Folk names are wonderfully descriptive by nature. I wonder how many people have been put off by the seeming coldness and formality of the Latin if you don’t understand anything of it. The only advantage is it cuts across modern languages by being equally incomprehensible.
Interesting to watch from the plan to pictures of the real thing. Always soenthusiastic – well done Carol
Thank you! It was striking how much difference the gravel mulch made.
I love that gardening is such a competitive sport in the UK. And I mean that in the very best way. In an awed and inspired way with a side of envy. Totally love Carols’ creation here. Love a meadow garden!
I can see how you would get that impression from publicity around the UK shows. This garden was one of the official ones that are not judged. The amateur fruit and vegetable competition sections are super competitive with all kinds of secret techniques and recipes. I have been advised never to eat one of the massive cabbages with every leaf perfect that need a wheelbarrow to move them (not that I would try!)
You may already know this one.
The best garden aspirational quote that inspires is: “God Almighty first planted a Garden. And indeed it is the purest of human pleasures. It is the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man, without which buildings and palaces are but gross handiworks. And a man shall ever see, that when ages grow to civility and elegancy, men come to build stately sooner than to garden finely, as if gardening were the greater perfection.” -Francis Bacon
I love this delicate, yet quite feisty planting. It seems a good match for CK, though ‘delicate’ is not a word I’d use for her down-to-earth-ness!
I think she is delicate, in sensibility, but very grounded, which is a good combination.
Exactly.
I admire Carol, she seems so down to earth and is a fantastic presenter. Her garden for Hampton Court looked amazing, the bit we got to see of it on TV.
I’m a bit worried about the trend for drought tolerant planting when we are also having wet winters. Some tough choices for gardeners and I for one don’t want the faff of bringing plants indoors over winter. As for sheep…
Wet summers in places too- we have had a very damp July. Some toadstools are appearing two months early. Plants are going to need to be more tolerant of extremes – and garden designs too.
True. Been wet here since the end of June! And even in today’s so called heatwave we are in the cloud. My summer annuals are struggling to flower and the S&S are having a ball!
Gorgeous photos. My very favorite type of natural landscaping…
I’m glad you liked it.
Such a pretty place. You gotta watch those sheep though.
I think they had eaten and trampled rather less than we had feared. Roses have their own protections!
Thanks for drawing this to my attention! I’ve always enjoyed Carol’s work and approach. The plant list for this drought tolerant bit is handy too.
My pleasure!
A very striking and pleasing combination. I loved the sheep anecdote!
She’s a lovely lady. I saw various people online saying how kind she had been to visitors to the show.
Wonderful photos. I’ve got a couple of drumstick alliums and the bees love them.
At flower shows, where bees can pretty much take their pick, it’s always the same.