Wimbledon Championships 2026
I was lucky enough to attend this years Wimbledon Championships and a huge part of the day for me is looking at all the amazing flowers, plants and fresh flower displays. They are simply stunning.
The beautiful grounds at Wimbledon are looked after by Head Gardener, Martyn Falconer. His job is to create grounds during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club that complement the ethos of tennis in an English garden. Following a colour palette of primarily green, white and purple the grounds are famous for their beautiful hydrangeas and hanging baskets.
Hydrangeas are iconic at Wimbledon and have been since the 1920’s as photos from the archive prove. They appear in a variety of colours and forms. Petunias are the stars of Wimbledon’s hanging baskets in just 3 colours, purple, blue and white.
However many more flowers and plants are all across the site including salvias, lupins, foxgloves, astrantia, aliums, dephiniums, scabious, campanula, molucella (bells of Ireland) and roses.
Over time there has been a shift in the plants and flowers used with perennials including verbenas, echinaceas, salvias and ornamental grasses becoming more prevalent as the club looks for alternatives to bedding plants that were historically heavily used.
Change is inevitable
As our climate is changing, so does managing the flowers and plants at Wimbledon. This was recognized by Neil Stubley, Head of Courts and Horticulture last week when he spoke about how their flower beds need to be adapted with a move towards drought resistant flowers. “There will be more…lavenders and those sort of things that are just more drought – tolerant” as well as move to more “hardy” and “perennial” plants.
He ruled out introducing olive trees and rosemary as ‘too Mediterranean’ and whilst he recognised that their iconic hydrangeas are very thirsty plants he did provide some reassurance they won’t disappear overnight. “As part of tradition, we don’t want to get rid of them completely but move them to shadier places. “
Head Gardener, Martyn Falconer reinforces this, explaining how they are looking to be more climate resilient to cope with the much longer hot spells and short, heavy downpours and water runoff. He is looking at plants that give the English garden feel but can cope with longer periods of heat.
Changes include a new irrigation system, capturing water from heavy downpours and reusing it as well as moving to peat free soil in all hanging baskets (by next year).
Wimble-scaping. Are you in?
“Wimble-scaping” (or Wimbledon-inspired gardening) is the viral trend of recreating the Wimbledon look in your own garden ie into an elegant, quintessential English garden. It is defined by a strict purple, green, and white colour palette, lush striped lawns, and traditional hanging baskets inspired by the grounds of the All England Club.
In reality this means, adding white and purple hydrangeas, salvias, and loads of hanging baskets full of purple, blue, and white petunias and climbing roses.
Image: Jess Torre
And finally….After the Championships ends on 12 July
Once the Championships fortnight ends, a selection of plants are donated to local charities within Merton and Wandsworth.
You can however still visit the All England Club which is an all year-round attraction. You can visit the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum and Wimbledon Shop and go on award-winning behind-the-scenes tour of the Grounds. Details and how to book are here.
