Martyn Falconer, the AELTC Head Gardener, knows all about seeds, blossoming talent and rampant climbers. In this series, he nominates his Plant of the Day.
Like baubles on a Christmas tree, the hanging baskets that adorn the sides of courts and buildings around the All England Club are the perfect finishing touch to the Championship setting. More than 200 ornamental baskets brimful of petunias add splashes of dark purple, blue-veined purple and white blooms against the dark green masonry walls.
“Look for a few red petunias in the southern end of the grounds,” says AELTC Head Gardener Martyn Falconer. “We put in some red with the blues as symbolic planting in 2014, the centenary of the Second World War, and we’ve kept it going. They add a good pop of contrast colour.”
The hanging basket is a quintessentially English garden feature – supplying a flourish of plant life and cheer where it would otherwise be impossible – and is said to have been inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Certainly Martyn and his team’s artistic use of petunias make these floral features a wonder of the Wimbledon world. Inspired by the annual horticultural show within the grounds, SW19 residents and Village shopkeepers enter into the spirit with colourful floral displays of their own.
Delve into the history of the petunia and you see that, beneath its pristine appearance, the flower embodies the killer potency required in a top player’s armoury of shots.
As a genus, the petunia originates from South America in 35 species of flowering plants that are closely related to tobacco, deadly nightshades and very hot chilli peppers.
More than 15,000 petunias are planted throughout the grounds. Some hang from baskets in spherical balls, some are mounted as semi-circular troughs. Others line beds with a soft touch and a flower-and-foliage combination that is an accurate nod to the purple, green and white colours of the club logo. All conjure a sense of natural abundance in tune with the English Country Garden feel.
The petunia is a mainstay of the Championship planting - and relatively high maintenance.
“They are the first plants to go in when the main planting starts in the first week of May. I have 12 members of staff who plant, maintain and water everything that comes to site. During The Championships we are all in every morning watering and deadheading from 6am until the public are in the grounds. Our aim is to have it look as good on Day One as the final day.”
