Gardens too political, complains Bunny
Hampton Court Palace’s flower show serves up a sobering experience that might shock traditionalists
You may think a flower show is about as far as you could get from the cut and thrust of politics – but you would be wrong, according to experts. Ahead of the Hampton Court Flower Show, Bunny Guinness, the Gardeners’ Question Time panellist, has questioned the politicisation of garden shows, and the move towards “statement” displays. This year’s showpieces cover themes including the ivory trade, industrialisation and climate change.
THEY were once havens of colourful escape from the worries and pressures of the world.
However, flower show gardens are now just as much about politics as horticulture, according to experts. Visitors to this year’s Hampton Court Palace flower show expecting to be dazzled by magical arrays of tulips and petunias may be in for a sobering surprise.
Instead, they can expect to learn all about Britain’s industrial decline, climate change and even the horrors of ivory poaching. The line up prompted Gardeners’ Question Time panellist Bunny Guinness to question the move towards “statements” rather than gardens. “I think people would prefer gardens that you might want to walk around, to actually enjoy,” said Ms Guinness. “There are so many flower shows nowadays that there appears to be a kind of desperation to be different. There are actually very few gardens that seem designed simply to be enjoyed.”
The Hampton Court gardens include an urban rain garden to cope with increased rainfall as a result of climate change, designed by Will Williams.
According to publicity for the show, the garden is supposed to demonstrate that “concrete barriers are not the only solution to climate change issues”.
Perhaps the most eye-catching entry is called Not for Sale, which draws at- tentions to the ivory trade by encouraging visitors to walk through an archway that represents the average number of elephants killed each day by poachers in Africa.
Designed by Mark Whyte and Sharmayne Ferguson, the recreation of poached ivory tusks opens out into a sandy garden including the “haunting” skull of a fallen elephant. “Do people come to the RHS show to learn about elephants and ivory trading? I’m not sure they do,” said Ms Guinness. “I’m sure they are making valid points about climate change and so on, but this is a flower show, after all.”
Elsewhere, the show will feature a community garden highlighting the work of Blind Veterans UK and a large woodland play garden for children and adults with disabilities such as autism
A live challenge backed by Honda will see “the Black Gardener” Danny Clarke create a nine-square metre vertical installation made up of 616 plants in no more than three hours. He said: “This perfectly illustrates my mantra that no matter how little time, space or budget you have, you can still create a beautiful garden.”