Hampton Court Way,
East Molesey,
Surrey,
KT8 9AU,
United Kingdom
Founded: · Typical dates: Tuesday to Sunday in early July (most recently 1–6 July 2025", "the festival is now biennial, returning to Hampton Court in 2027)
Dahlia
Taxonomy: A genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants in the family
Asteraceae (the daisy family), subfamily Asteroideae, tribe Coreopsideae — relatives of the sunflower, daisy, chrysanthemum and zinnia.
Etymology: Named in 1791 by Antonio José Cavanilles, Director of the Royal Gardens of Madrid, in honour of Anders Dahl, Swedish naturalist and author of Observationes Botanicae
Native range:Mexico and Central America — principally the high plains and mountains of Mexico, with species in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Costa Rica
Genus size: 42 accepted species (with new ones still described), and thousands of cultivars
Form: Bushy perennials with tuberous roots and composite flower heads (capitula) of florets arranged in a central disc with surrounding petal-like rays
National flower: The dahlia is the national flower of Mexico
Hardiness: Not frost hardy — the tubers require protection from frost in regions with cold winters (lift and store, or mulch heavily in mild areas)
Season: Flowers from late summer until interrupted by autumn frost — a mainstay of the September border and the show bench
Dahlias were farmed by the Aztecs as a food crop for their starchy, highly nutritious root tubers — a use that largely died out after the Spanish conquest — and their hollow stems served the Aztecs as water pipes. Spanish conquistadors collected the plants in the 16th century, but some 200 years passed before seeds and tubers reached Europe, arriving at the Royal Botanical Gardens of Madrid toward the end of the 18th century, where Abbe Cavanilles named the genus for Anders Dahl. Initial European breeders were more interested in the dahlia as a food source, since the blooms were not particularly noteworthy. The first introduction to Great Britain came from Spain in 1798, and the double-flowered forms that spawned countless British varieties soon followed. A pivotal moment came in 1872, when a box of dahlia roots was sent from Mexico to Holland and all but one tuber perished — that singular root produced the brilliant red, rolled and pointed bloom that became 'Juarezii', ancestor of all cactus and decorative dahlias. In 1803 the genus was given the erroneous name "Georgina", by which it is still known in parts of eastern Europe. Before insulin, diabetes was treated with inulin extracted from dahlia tubers.
Dahlias are among the world's most popular garden and cut flowers — stars of the late-summer border, the flower farm, and the show bench, with national societies in Britain and America maintaining classifications and registers. About six species have been bred for cultivation, and the flower's extraordinary diversity of form makes it a continuing focus of horticultural passion. In Mexico it remains a symbol of national heritage.
Lilium (True Lilies)
Taxonomy: A genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, in the family
Liliaceae (the lily family), tribe Lilieae — alongside Fritillaria, Tulipa, Gagea and Cardiocrinum
Etymology:Lilium is the Latin word for lily, itself from the Greek leirion
Native range:the temperate Northern Hemisphere — Europe, Asia and North America — extending into the northern subtropics
Taxonomy: A diverse and widespread family of flowering plants — perennial, usually perennially evergreen or deciduous herbs — variously ranked as one of the two largest plant families
Etymology: The family name derives from the genus Orchis, itself from the Ancient Greek ????? (orchis), "testicle", from the shape of the paired underground tubers of the Eurasian genus
Distribution:cosmopolitan — every continent except Antarctica, with concentrations in the tropics; 56 species native to Britain, of which 9 are fairly common
Family size: About 763–880 genera and 26,000–28,000 accepted species — rivalling or exceeding the daisy family as the largest of flowering plants; new species are still described every year
Origins: Thought to have arisen around the time of the dinosaur extinction (Late Cretaceous–Early Paleogene) and then rapidly diverged into 5 subfamilies
Habits: Terrestrial, epiphytic (growing on trees) or lithophytic (on rocks) perennial herbs — with one genuinely parasitic lineage; epiphytism accounts for the majority of tropical species
Flower: Bilaterally symmetric, with three sepals, two petals and the enlarged, modified third petal — the labellum or lip, often extended backwards into a nectar spur
Reproductive structure: The stamen(s) united with the style into a single column, bearing 1–8 waxy masses of pollen called pollinia, with the third stigma transformed into the rostellum that separates male and female parts
Seeds: Dust-like, without food reserves — millions per capsule — requiring symbiosis with mycorrhizal fungi to germinate
Historical Significance
Orchids have fascinated botanists since the first tropical epiphytes reached Europe and defied the assumption that all plants grow in soil. The 19th century was the great age of "orchidelirium": collectors stripped forests from Java to Colombia to feed Victorian glasshouses, and the fum| orensic complexity of the flowers attracted Darwin himself, whose Fertilisation of Orchids (1862) used them as evidence for evolution by natural selection — including his prediction, later confirmed, that a Madagascar orchid with a foot-long nectar spur must be pollinated by an equally long-tongued moth. The invention of seed germination on artificial media (knop's solution) by Noël Bernard and later Lewis Knudsen unlocked mass propagation, ending the era of wild collection and birthing the modern orchid industry. Today the RHS International Orchid Register records over 100,000 grexes (hybrid names) — more than for any other plant group.
Founded: ·
Typical dates: Tuesday to Sunday in early July (most recently 1–6 July 2025", "the festival is now biennial, returning to Hampton Court in 2027)
Key Facts
Status: The world's largest flower show
Scale: 31 acres of showground in Home Park, attracting around 120,000 visitors per festival
Organiser: The Royal Horticultural Society, in partnership with Historic Royal Palaces
First held: July 1990, created by Historic Royal Palaces and Network SouthEast", "the first RHS show was 1993
Format: Show gardens, floral marquees, the Festival of Roses, trade stands, musicians and street food
Schedule: Now biennial — the 2026 show moves to Badminton Estate in Gloucestershire, with the festival returning to Hampton Court Palace in 2027
Historical Significance
The original Hampton Court Palace Flower Show was the brainchild of management consultant Adrian Boyd, who saw an opportunity to connect two organisations facing times of uncertainty: the newly created Historic Royal Palaces, looking for revenue after the dismemberment of the Department of the Environment, and Network SouthEast, seeking to make its rail services more profitable. The first show in July 1990 drew an estimated 300,000 visitors, with special trains laid on from Waterloo and porters wearing carnations in their hats — 70 per cent of visitors used rail. When Network SouthEast withdrew in 1992, the RHS won the competitive tender, and its first Hampton Court show in 1993, sponsored by the Daily Mail, was such a success that 1994's was declared the best outdoor public event of the year. The show rebranded as the Hampton Court Garden Festival in 2019, a name the RHS said better reflected the visitor experience", "the 2020 festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key Features and Attractions
Show Gardens: The cutting edge of garden design, with dozens of display and show gardens competing for RHS medals, including Best in Show and the People's Choice awards.
The Festival of Roses: A signature floral feature, fitting for a show that introduced its British Rose Festival back in 1991 with the Royal National Rose Society.
The Floral Marquee and plant sales: More flowers are sold per square mile at RHS Hampton than anywhere else in the UK, with nursery displays and rare plants from specialist growers.
The festival atmosphere: A laid-back feel compared to Chelsea, with musicians, street food and family-friendly spaces — on average 3,300 glasses of Pimm's, 17,000+ cups of Fairtrade tea and coffee, 11,000+ sandwiches and 2,800+ slices of cake are consumed during festival week.
Legacy gardens: Show gardens have been rebuilt for good causes — in 1998 a Hampton Court garden was rebuilt at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability, and award-winning gardens such as Davies White's 2017 Cauldwell children's wild garden have gone on to permanent homes.
