500 years of gardens at Hampton Court Palace: part 2

The clipping of the topiary trees lapsed in the mid-18th century. In the Wilderness, the high hedges grew out. Elsewhere in the gardens, the statues were removed to Windsor Castle by George IV and the intricate parterres were lost. ​  

It wasn't until Queen Victoria opened the gardens to the public in 1838 that Hampton Court had a new lease of life, attracting hordes of visitors.​  

Head gardeners embraced the changing horticultural fashions of the day and Hampton Court became known for the huge numbers of visitors that came to take the air and enjoy the historic landscape and dazzling planting displays.​  

The Victorian fashion for colourful carpet bedding was adopted for the Great Fountain Garden. This popular tradition of changing the planting more than twice a year continues today.​  

As well as public visitors and changing garden teams, grace-and-favour residents also influenced how the gardens were tended into the next century.  In this photo, a resident is tending a garden in the Flower Quarter of the Pond Gardens.

The overgrown trees left in the Privy Garden gave the grace-and-favour residents some privacy. 

The focus for the gardeners continued to be very much on seasonal colour and bedding schemes, as in most public parks. ​This tradition continues today, although the gardeners' uniform has changed considerably!

The 1920s gardeners were busy maintaining the gardens, but there was no drive to make structural changes. By 1930, the topiary shrubs in the Privy Garden had matured into overgrown trees, obscuring the view from the Palace to the river Thames beyond​.  

The Maze had to be replanted in the 1960s, due to wear and tear from visitors.

The first major project was the reconstruction of the lost Privy Garden. Reopened by HRH Prince Charles in 1995, it's a stunning reconstruction of the original 17th century design that William III commissioned. ​  

A new garden in Chapel Court was created in 2009 to mark the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's accession to the throne.   

The reconstructed Kitchen Garden opened in 2014. Based on one part of a large four acre walled garden, which was designed in the late 17th century, it's now a working, productive garden again. Produce from this garden is sold to the public in the summer.​  

The gardens team are now recreating Queen Mary's Exoticks collection of tender plants. Now recognised as an historic national collection, they are displayed outside the Orangery in summer. ​  

Maintaining the annual bedding displays is still an important focus in the gardening year at Hampton Court Palace. The gardeners grow over 100,000 plants every year in the glasshouses to plant out in spring and summer. 

The tradition of carpet bedding and celebration planting has continued for special events like Her Majesty The Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002. 15,000 plants were used to create each one of multiple crowns that appeared around the gardens.