We can use some of the ideas from the RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival 2025 to create beautiful gardens in our gardens.

Here are some tips that will work for any garden size, whether your style is romantic and natural or sleek and modern.

Cottage Garden Planting – Big at RHS Hampton Court 2025

Cottage garden planting was the most popular planting theme at RHS Hampton Court 2020.

This is a very broad term. It can refer to anything from soft, colour-themed borders to exuberant mixtures of classic favourites.

Cottage garden style can be informal, romantic and individual. Planting rules such as “threes and cinques” are not necessary. You can have a garden that is full of colour and flowers, or one with a few scattered flowers. See this post to learn more about creating a cottage-style garden.

Nilufer Daniels’ 3 Graces of Galicia Show Garden had soft, pretty plantings in pinks, blues and whites. Veronicastrum was buzzing with pollinators – a charming garden.

Nilufer Daniels’ 3 Graces of Galicia – soft, pretty cottage garden planting.

Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants’ stand and The Three Graces of Galicia, with its bold display of bright colours, were inspiring.

Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants stands in the Floral Marquee with a vibrant display of cottage-garden flowers.

Use plants that are easy to find and affordable. They should also be self-seeding, pollinator-friendly, and easily available. This is what makes it look sustainable and achievable for any gardener.

Find out more about the best 25 cottage garden plants.

Naturalistic and colourful. The KLC Creative Cubes titled this show garden ‘A Colourists Garden by Robert Pryor’.

It’s more of a “naturalistic” garden than a strictly “cottage garden,” but the principles are similar. Travel Oregon, a book by Sadie May Powell, uses plants that look almost wild.

White is a great way to add a fresh look.

The theme of the show gardens was predominantly green with splashes of white.

This look is modern and serene. It is also low-maintenance because foliage requires less maintenance than flowers.

The white and green combination in particular looked modern and stylish throughout the garden. This is a very simple idea that instantly looks effective.

Cool and modern is white on white, or white on green. This combination of white flowers and variegated leaves can be seen in many gardens, including the Greenjamm Nursery. It’s very pretty!

Deep Reds and bronze for Bold Foliage Contrast

While the majority of gardens were romantic and mellow, some introduced vibrant colour in red and bronze tones. For a bold effect, Illusion 2030 Kitti Kovacs chose a dark-red tree (Cercis canadensis).

Kitti Kovacs’ planting in her Illusion garden 2025 was vibrant. She made good use of both red foliage (the Cercis canadensis tree) and flowers. This planting shows how resilient plants need to be at the forefront of 2050.

Look for plants such as Berberis “Rose Glow” from Burncoose Nurseries or deep-toned Acers from Norfield Nurseries. These plants add texture, contrast and drama to your border.

Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants display Physocarpus Lady in Red.

Discover Ferns for Structure & Resilience

Ferns were among the most impressive plants at RHS Hampton Court in 2025. They are sculptural and surprisingly hardy, making them ideal for a variety of situations, from sun-exposed areas to shady spots.

Alchemy Ferns’ labels showed how adaptable the plants are. Many can tolerate both moist and dry conditions and shade and sun. We are looking for plants that can withstand the extreme weather conditions around the world, from heat waves to floods.

The Subaru Cocoon Garden, a contemporary garden by Mike McMahon & Jewlsy Matthews that won the Best in Show award and a Gold Medal, featured several ferns. This is a modern reinterpretation using bricks of an old walled garden.

The ferns can be used in a variety of styles, from the minimalist Subaru Garden to the naturalistic Travel Oregon. They also work well in the romantic Three Graces of Galicia or the modern Two Tales Garden.

Ferns in Nadine Charlton’s and Michael Lote’s One Element Garden. This garden uses recycled “grey water” and is meant to bring attention to the way we use water. Note the green rooftop.

Use Stumps or Logs Creatively

In a few gardens, stumps and logs were used not only as edging but also for plant displays and features.

The RHS RSPB Swifts Garden logs highlight habitat loss.

The RHS RSPB Show Garden at RHS Hampton Court 205 shows how habitat loss is decimating the swift population. The logs were used for ornaments and as an edging.

They became rustic border edging in the Woodland Edge Garden, designed by Nicholas Navarro Garden Design.

Nicholas Navarro’s Woodland Edge garden had a wicker border and a log edging.

You can even go further and create a mini-stumpery. You’ll get more enjoyment from small plants if you grow them. See the dieramas at the Floral Marquee, and the Hardy Plant Society’s national collection of santolina for inspiration.

You can use both rocks and stumps to elevate plants and showcase them. Here’s how to make a rockery, and here’s how to make a stumpery.

Break up Paving to Get a Cooler and Softer Surface

More people are choosing to replace their lawns with planting in smaller gardens. Paving large areas can be expensive, hot, and not environmentally friendly.

It is important to ensure that the paving and other surfaces you use are permeable and to remove them. This is also attractive.

APL Garden (Association of Professional Landscapers), mixed use of pavers and gravel on decking.

Many show gardens at Hampton Court 2025 replaced paving with bark, gravel or plants, creating a more natural appearance and improving water flow.

Yoni Carnice and a team of London National Park Rangers created this crazy paving. Yoni Carnice created it with a team from the London National Park Rangers.

The Aster of Senses Garden by Yoni Carnia and the National City Park Rangers brought back ‘crazy paving.’ The National City Park Rangers recycled broken pavers by setting them in crushed concrete. This is a great idea that you can borrow. This kind of recycling is described in Growing for the Future, a publication from the Horniman Museum.

Add More Than One Pond

This year’s show gardens didn’t have just one pond. RHS Hampton Court 2020 included several water features, including small raised ponds connected by simple rills and waterfalls.

In A Garden of Two Tales, Daniel March designed round ponds with copper taps. The streams below were shallow. This garden also used a clever idea to create more space and light by raising the canopy of trees.

Daniel March’s A Garden of Two Tales featured several raised ponds and a stream that ran beneath. A good plumber will be able to replicate the copper piping faucet easily.

Even small water features will help wildlife, cool down the garden and create a relaxing atmosphere.