AN INTERVIEW WITH GRAHAM DILLAMORE, HEAD GARDENER AT HAMPTON COURT PALACE
“Life as a gardener has perhaps never been as challenging as it is now. In some ways, a gardener’s perspective and understanding of the serious and global climatic changes affecting our landscapes is more advanced than most other occupations”
Graham Dillamore has spent over 40 years tending to, developing and conserving some of the most famed and beautiful gardens in London. The Tower of London, Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace, Kew Palace and Banqueting House are all managed by Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity. These historic landmarks have some of the most visited and iconic gardens in the UK, and inheriting a legacy of gardens designed by household names such as Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (who planted the Great Vine in 1768) is no small responsibility.
Graham’s days are mainly spent at Hampton Court Palace, one of the most significant and magnificent historic buildings in the world. Sitting on the banks of the Thames around 12 miles from central London, the Palace was first established by Cardinal Wolsey in the early 16th century and is probably most renowned for being the home of Henry VIII and his famous six wives.
Graham Dillamore (Head Gardener) helps instruct HRP members on how to plant tulip bulbs ahead of Tulip Festival in Great Fountain Garden. Photos taken for ‘Inside Story’ magazine to promote the Tulip Festival at HCP in a different way – by getting some HRP members involved in the preparation. Members were asked to volunteer for an exclusive opportunity to help plant some tulip bulbs ahead of the festival.
© Historic Royal Palaces. Photo: Richard Lea-Hair
The spectacular gardens are formed of 60 acres of stunning formal gardens and 750 acres of parkland, all teeming with history and maintained by Graham since 1990, when he moved to the Palace from Kensington Palace where he had spent five years looking after the Gardens, which at the time were enjoyed by the Prince and Princess of Wales.. His role involves coordinating and overseeing everything that goes on in the gardens not only on a day-to-day basis, but also week-to-week, month-to-month, and year-to-year. His aim is to conserve and preserve what is already there, as well as going back in time to understand what went on before, but change is also part of the Palace’s 500-year history – as our climate changes, so do our gardens.
From the sunken Tudor Pond Gardens to the vast baroque masterpieces on the East Front and the Victorian Maze, Graham shares how his team are adapting to these challenges:
‘Life as a gardener has perhaps never been as challenging as it is now. In some ways, a gardener’s perspective and understanding of the serious and global climatic changes affecting our landscapes is more advanced than most other occupations. The loss of insect life and decline in bird populations are just two of the more obvious concerns, and circumstances have changed dramatically in my 45-year gardening career. The Hampton Court Gardens have evolved, developed and matured over hundreds of years – probably more so than any other formal gardens in the UK. The historical alterations were sometimes driven by changes in monarch who wanted to leave their mark, or responses to visitor demands and desires.
In the past 30 years, we have restored and recreated areas of the gardens that were lost or forgotten. This gave us ground-breaking projects such as the Privy Garden and Orangery Garden. There appeared to be no other reasons for significant change, until now.
Great Fountain Garden in the foreground
© Historic Royal Palaces/High Level Photography
Hampton Court Gardens, like every other garden, encompass the interconnected relationships between plants, animals, microorganisms, and the environment and are subject to the same climatic changes and loss of biodiversity as everywhere else. This decline pays no respect to royal status or length of service; it is perhaps the larger formal gardens like ours that are hit hardest, or where it’s most noticeable.
Our 35 formal flower beds, two miles of box hedging and five acres of fine lawns – all sitting on free-draining river gravel – present us with a challenge, especially during unexpected long scorching dry periods. Adding to the gardeners’ woes are the ever-increasing range of ruthless pests and diseases we’ve never seen in the UK before. None of these issues are secret or private so it feels like a good time to share the trials and tests ahead; our gardens, along with thousands of others, must adapt and start coping.
Over the past few years, we have made several small adaptations and adjustments. The frequency of these changes will increase over the coming years as we seek to be more sustainable and resilient. We won’t lose the spectacular and colourful displays that our visitors love or de-formalise our historic baroque layout, but we can achieve the same impact with a slight adjustment to the plant content in some of the areas.
Supplying over 10,000 summer annuals, 15,000 bulbs and 10,000 spring bedding plants isn’t easy and uses a lot of our resources. The constant turning of the soil, the waste and the need to irrigate everything have made us want to be less dependent on bedding plants. So we spent time last winter planting the upper level of the Pond Garden with hardy tropical palms, interesting foliage, topiary and flowering shrubs. This new approach will give us a new look but be more sustainable. It will still be colourful, but in a different way.
On the baroque East Front, vast numbers of bedding plants and resources are needed here to keep things going year after year. Instead, we’re trialling using colourful perennials (that stay in the ground through winter) to achieve a similar look, while also helping to reduce wastage and leave us less dependent on irrigation and fossil fuels to produce the bedding plants.
These are just two new initiatives we’re working on, but we are also doing much more generally to adapt and to create better habitats for our biodiversity. A little less grass-cutting here and there, building dead hedge havens for birds and switching to battery-powered equipment are just a few actions we have taken; going forward, we have plans to reduce our fossil fuel dependency even more. Every plant we plant, decision we make and step we take is made with a new energy and a set of new principles. Doing nothing isn’t an option.’
Henry VIII could have been standing right here with his hands on this very wall, so one minute you’re touching something from the 1530s, and the next something from 1690
The gardens at Hampton Court contain many remarkable highlights, such as William III and Mary II’s Great Fountain Garden on the East Front, with its 13 beautiful fountains and iconic mushroom-shaped yew trees; and the elegant Long Water – a beautiful stretch of water completed in 1660 by King Charles II as a wedding present for his bride-to-be, Catherine of Braganza. Graham’s very first project was to restore one of the most significant parts of the garden – William III’s Privy Garden (the King’s magnificent private garden) – back to exactly how it was in 1702. Using archaeology reports and historical gardening records, Graham and his team spent two years meticulously bringing the garden back to its former baroque glory
Colourful perennials such as Kniphofia, Hemerocallis and Crocosmia providing sustainable alternatives in the Great fountain Garden this summer .
‘One of the things we always try to do at Hampton Court is connect the garden with the Palace itself. Our philosophy is that gardens and Palaces should be as one. So here, we’ve used authentic plant varieties, spacing, statues – even the topiary heights and shapes are accurate. You can stand here and see it exactly as it was in 1702. It’s a bit like a time capsule. It is without doubt the greatest recreated baroque garden in the UK, and I am incredibly proud of it. It is a real jewel in our crown.’
We’ve used authentic plant varieties, spacing, statues – even the topiary heights and shapes are accurate. You can stand here in the Kings Privy Garden and see it exactly as it was in 1702. It’s a bit like a time capsule.
The gardens at Hampton Court may have developed over the years, but each time a gardener or architect came to change things they had respect for what had gone before.
‘So now, the gardens very much respect the history of the place and pay tribute to all the previous gardeners that have worked here. That’s what makes Hampton Court so special. Henry VIII could have been standing right here with his hands on this very wall, so one minute you’re touching something from the 1530s, and the next something from 1690. It’s like walking through all these different periods of time, and my mission in life is to preserve all that.’
Graham will certainly take his place in history as part of a significant gardening dynasty. ‘That thought makes us feel quite small really – our brilliant Gardens team are just here in this little moment of time. We just don’t want to get anything wrong or leave without finishing a job!’
Historic Royal Palaces is an independent charity for everyone, which loves and looks after six of the most wonderful palaces in the world. To support their conservation and research work by becoming a patron, leaving a legacy, making a donation or for corporate membership, please visit www.hrp.org.uk.
By Emma Howard