Shot! The Best in Show garden at the 2022 RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival
Matthew Childs’ vibrant show garden for Over The Wall was the biggest winner at this year’s Hampton, walking away with a Gold medal and being named Best in Show
When you’ve been attending RHS shows at Chelsea and Hampton Court as long as I have, you develop a knack of spotting the most photogenic show gardens even before you get to see them in person. If I’m honest, based on their description and illustration, none of this year’s crop at Hampton looked that interesting apart from one: Mattie Child’s ‘Over The Wall’ gravel garden.
From the moment I saw the visual and photos of the build, I knew it was going to be the most photogenic garden of the twenty at the show. With its curved blue walls, one thing was certain: the planting was going to pop against the backdrop.
I wasn’t wrong.
What’s most surprising about show gardens at Hampton Court is just how small they are, which makes no sense considering that this claims to be the world’s largest flower show and the show grounds stretch over 34 acres, making it considerably bigger than the far more prestigious Chelsea show.
Another big difference between the two shows is that while Chelsea groups all of its show gardens together, along Main Avenue and in other specified areas of the site, at Hampton Court the gardens are scattered around the grounds mixed in with the hundreds of exhibitors.
It’s not just the plots that are pocket-sized, so is the ambition of the designers. One can only conclude this is due to the fact almost all of them are sponsored by charities which means their budgets are frugal at best. And it most definitely shows: over the years the show gardens at Hampton have become way less ambitious.
It was no surprise to find that the Over The Wall garden was also sponsored by a charity, although one I must confess to never having heard of before. And of course that meant translating the ethos of the charity into the garden. In this case, it was about giving opportunities to underprivileged children.
The reality is these storylines — and here the path literally featured the charity’s six key words writ large — may justify the charity’s involvement, but I doubt they actually register with those looking at the garden. For most people, I’m certain the garden’s ‘message’ is immaterial, they’re only interested in whether they like its looks, its features and its planting.
Design-wise, this was an extremely simple concept: a circular space, surrounded by a rising curved wall and bisected by a curved path. Whilst it wouldn’t win any prizes for originality, it was undeniably striking to look at.
Painted in a vibrant blue, the inner walls reminded me of the cobalt blue Jardins Majorelle, the iconic villa in Marrakech once owned by Yves Saint-Laurent. The curved walkway led to a bright orange opening, or as the brochure described it, “a winding path leads visitors towards a sunrise opening in the wall which symbolises new possibilities.”
Mattie used this blue wall to maximum effect, allowing his colourful planting to really pop.
His palette of hot oranges and pinks, and bright greens and blues may not have been subtle, but created a multitude of Instagrammable compositions.
Whilst the wall itself was the dominant design feature, I felt it cried out for two things: first, its rough, surprisingly unrefined finish could have been more creatively dealt with and second, why wasn’t the outside and top of the wall also painted blue? Instead, it was left white.
Did they run out of time…or run out of paint?
If it had been all blue — which as you can see from this visual was the original intention— it would have had so much more impact when viewed from outside. This is an important consideration, as it’s the view most people looking at the garden get to see.
I’ve mentioned it several times already, but one cannot underestimate the impact a solid dark background has on a garden’s planting. Colour-wise, the blue and orange used here are arguably the best choice, although I’ve seen other show gardens where hot pink and bright yellow walls work just as well. Obviously, the background colour influences the colour choice of the planting as certain combinations work better than others. In this case, it was all about using primary colours.
But what was also important was the choice of plant shapes. Against the wall, alongside ornamental grasses, Mattie used varieties with strong architectural form: the lollypop spheres of allium album, the tubular giant hyssop, the spikes of veronicastrum virginicum Diane and the torch-like flowers of kniphofia.
All were positioned in just the right quantity — not too many, not too few — to create maximum visual impact. This is something that’s essential with any show garden, but one most garden designers fail to appreciate. Indeed, no other garden at Hampton came close to the visual impact of the Over The Wall garden.
In addition to the planting, the garden contained a number of large feature rocks and several black water bowls filled with water lillies, a nod I assume to co-sponsor, the Japanese pharmaceutical company, Takeda.
Whilst I was able to walk the pathway, it was only when it was full of visitors and there was always a queue waiting to visit it. This year, I assume for commercial reasons, the RHS turned the first day (which used to be reserved exclusively for the media and special guests) into an RHS-members day and the show grounds were rammed. Indeed, I’ve never seen Hampton so busy.
Apart from seeing the garden devoid of people, I would have loved to have seen it at night, but unfortunately it was only illuminated four days later during the ‘Flowers after Hours’ event. Photos taken then show the sky being almost the same shade of blue as the wall.
With the majority of this year’s show gardens being less than eye-catching, it was no surprise the judges awarded Mattie Childs a gold-medal, as well as declaring Over The Wall this year’s best show garden. I think both were no-brainers. To further solidify its dominance, it also won best Construction award for its builders, Yoreland Design.
With such an attention-grabbing garden, it should have also won the People’s Choice, but inexplicably that went to Rhiannon Williams’ John King Brain Tumour Foundation Garden, one that the judges themselves had only deemed worthy of a silver medal.
In conclusion, I think the Over The Wall garden did a better than average job of conveying the message of its sponsor. Through its bold use of colour, straightforward design and impactful planting, it exuded positive vibes. And unlike, so many show gardens, actively encouraged visitors to walk through it, not just admire it from behind a rope barrier. I’m sure Mattie Childs was over the moon with the result and the reaction.
Behind the shot: These images were taken either using the Olympus OM-D E-M1 with the M Zuiko 1.8 75mm lens or the iPhone 12. Over the years I’ve tended to focus on tight compositions when shooting show gardens and floral displays at Chelsea and Hampton Court. The constant stream of people on the garden path meant it was even more challenging to get a set of interesting images. Photographed at Hampton Court Palace on 4 July 2022
About the author: Based in Sussex-by-the-Sea, on England’s south coast, Gary is a creative writer and image-maker. He specialises in creating out of the ordinary portraits of musicians and people with interesting faces, as well as photographing some of the world’s finest flowers and gardens.
On the writing side, he has used his research skills to author deep dives into some noteworthy songs beginning with Bryan Ferry’s ‘These Foolish Things’ ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials and ‘All The Young Dudes’ by Mott the Hoople.
Most recently, he has written a biography of Robert Palmer and the stories behind Whitesnake’s ‘Still Of The Night’ and Harry Styles’ anthem to positivity, ‘Treat People With Kindness’. He has also just penned the fascinating story behind George Orwell’s dystopian novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four.’
All these can be found here on Medium, along with his reviews of gigs and events and chats with musicians.
