With a month to go until RHS Sandringham Flower Show, set on the gorgeous Norfolk royal estate, further details of Show Gardens and Features have been announced set to showcase how local heritage and British landscapes can inspire our own garden spaces.
Honouring the head gardeners across RHS partner gardens, the RHS Head Gardeners Show Feature by Dave Green will pay tribute to the historic estates, botanic collections, public gardens and specialist landscapes that are cared for by these talented horticulturists. The display is in a courtyard setting and represents British landscapes stretching from Cornwall to Cumbria and Kent to Somerset. Through information boards, visitors can discover the stories of the head gardeners’ careers, journeys and achievements.
Reimagining a traditional orchard into an English suburban smaller garden, Mindful Chef’s Gathering by Sophie Godber is a highly sustainable, naturalist garden that includes apple, plum and nut trees. 90% of Britain’s traditional orchards have been lost since the 1950s, so the space imagines an inter-connected patchwork of habitats going from a garden, kitchen, orchard and home. The garden is highly sustainable and also includes a quirky edible understorey with vibrant colour, quiet spaces for nature, innovative wildlife boxes, a bespoke green roof shed, a natural pond and a native hedgerow.
Families who are keen fruit and veg growers will be able to bring their own home-produce to the show for the daily Junior Growers Competition, with Sandringham gardeners assessing submitted harvests, giving medals and feedback to families participating*.
The RHS Crafted from Nature Garden by Laura Strand and Sam Stark-Kemp is an immersive, meadow-inspired space filled with soft, naturalistic planting, rich textures and handcrafted features that reflect Norfolk’s distinctive character. The garden will show how using natural, locally sourced materials from the local environment of Norfolk can inspire biodiverse, sustainable spaces for the future. Highlighting how traditional skills can be used in a contemporary way, the Norfolk water reed which is iconic to the Norfolk Broads and traditionally used for thatching, will be reimagined as contemporary tactile walls.
Children attending RHS Sandringham will have the opportunity to write ‘leaf letters’ directly to the King and Queen through an activity that will help them learn and identify the King’s favourite trees. This follows a 2019 study by Hoop that asked 1,000 children to identify various floral and fauna, finding that 82% did not recognize an oak leaf. Plane, oak and lime shaped leaf letters will be sent directly to the monarchs.
In further recognition of the King’s passion for arboriculture, the Tree Listening Project created by Alex Metcalf is a Show Feature that will let visitors hear the very life of the tree surging up from the roots towards the leaves. Through headphones, visitors can listen to the audible popping sound produced by water passing through the tree’s xylem tubes. Additionally, ‘Future Wood’ by Barcham Trees, designed by Tom Hoblyn, will show how the trees we plant today will still be standing long after the climate has changed beyond recognition. Set against the backdrop of a sand and rock garden, a curated selection of climate-resilient trees and plants demonstrates that forward-thinking species choice need not mean sacrificing beauty.
RHS Sandringham Flower Show opens to the public on 22nd July, with tickets still available at rhs.org.uk/Sandringham.
