Cut Flower Garden to feature at RHS Hampton Court Palace

A Cut Flower Garden, designed by Carolyn Dunster and Noemi Mercurelli, will feature at this year’s RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, on behalf of Katie’s Lymphoedema Fund (KLF) in support of The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.

KLF was set up to champion Lymphoedema in memory of Katie Wohlrab Oliver, who struggled with the condition and succumbed to cancer in 2001 aged just 35.

The garden celebrates Katie’s life and raises awareness of the work that KLF does in raising money to train oncology nurses and other NHS practitioners in the treatment of Lymphoedema, in particular in Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD). This is a type of massage that reduces swelling from Lymphoedema, with the aim of moving fluid from the swollen area into an area where the lymphatic system is working normally.

Carolyn is a professional florist and planting designer who set up her own business Simply Roses 15 years ago. Noemi is a graduate from the KLC School of Garden Design where she won the Great Dixter Award and was shortlisted for the prestigious RHS Young Designer of the Year.

They have designed a garden full of joy and positivity, laid out with raised planting beds demonstrating how to grow flowers for cutting and arranging. A flower prepping table will display pots, dried seed heads, gardening and floristry tools as well as a number of buckets and bases filled with seasonal cut flowers. Kate Gibbins from Windmill Farm Flowers in Somerset has been busy cultivating a selection of British grown cut flowers; garden favourites that when cut and conditioned correctly can bring joy to your home in simple jam jars or more elaborate urns or favourite vases.

Over 500 stems of flowers in tones of pink and purple mixed with white will be displayed in zinc florist buckets including a mix of modest annuals from cornflowers, scabious, sweet peas, antirrhinums, cosmos, brize maxima grass and beautiful didiscus. All the flowers will have been picked early in the morning from a Somerset field and left to drink overnight in a cool barn. English grown cut flowers can perform as well as any imported flower and are much more charming than scentless flowers.

A bubbling water feature will be included in the garden, representing the lymphatic drainage system and drawing attention to the vital and ongoing work of KLF.

The planting palette is pink/burgundy, reflecting the colours of both the KLF and the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity logos.

RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show runs from 5th to 10th July at Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey. Tickets are now available from: https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-hampton-court-palace-flower-show/tickets