This article is part of Wimbledon’s FT Globetrotter’s Guide
Much of Wimbledon’s “British” atmosphere is due to the careful cultivation of the site. This includes pure white bedding displays decorated in purple, white and green club palettes, decorating purple, white and green club palette passages, driveways, balconies, bridges, restaurants, private suites and courts. This is Hercules’ efforts, which includes 18 full-time ground staff and 13 full-time staff in the season and 28,000 plants.
Head gardener Martyn Falconer, a 26-year Wimbledon veteran, is responsible for keeping the garden fresh and flowers for two weeks of the championship. That comparatively long timeframe means that displays are given over to long- and repeat-flowering perennials, including Rosa ‘Iceberg’, Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’, Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Fascination’, Verbena bonariensis and Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’, with acers, espaliered hornbeam, and box and ilex topiary providing height, structure and that English country-house. They look like permanent plantings, but most bedding plants and trees are secretly housed in plastic pots. This is easy to maintain, allowing for dense planting and “wow” displays, Falconer says.
I met Falconer 11 days before the tournament began and the grounds are in the best shape – purple and white petunia, an old-fashioned Wimbledon favorite, a cascade of hanging baskets. A giant pink hydrangea falls over on top of a balcony planter. Then, rambling roses, less time to flower for the tournament, climb up the arch of Rose Arbor. Hundreds of plants still travelling beyond the grounds of golf carts and trolleys, but it is a very dry spring, the driest of 132 years – it is sweating Falconer.
Conversely, the team that manages the lawn courts (with 18 championship courts and 20 more for 20 to practice) says that the growth conditions have been pretty good this year, and that tournament preparations have slow drying the turf to ensure an ideal hardness measurement. Ten days before the tournament, the team will spray a solution of diluted iron to give it a final boost, and then re-fed and re-fed after the tournament. Shoes and rackets all pose challenges, but like gardens, the biggest threat is the weather.
Here, Falconer answers questions about how Wimbledon grounds and gardening teams prepare for their big day.
Given the lack of hot springs and rain, was it a challenge to get a shaped lot?
We water early every morning. And again in the evening if we need to. If necessary, drip line irrigation and hose make everything very damp and keep the hose up.
What kind of weather do you pray for?
I pray for the wet and cool weather towards the championship. During the championship, it could be sunny as you like.
You became a head gardener in 2014. How did the basis change under your stewardship?
We gave us a more British vibe with many herbaceous perennials, some topiaries, fewer bedding plants and annuals. It’s a flower, but it’s a bit sloppy.
We are doing what we can to become more sustainable – harvesting rainwater from our new buildings and reducing water use through our drip line irrigation system and a lot of mulching, allowing the beds to retain that moisture throughout the year. Wildflower Meadow has been installed behind the practice court.
Do you recommend gardening creatively, or is there a “Wimbledon Way”?
Clubs are good at moving me along with the age of gardening. You can see our living walls. But we are British gardens and trace the colours of Wimbledon so we can go so far. In other areas, other areas have other colors to fit. Last year we planted orange yellow in our trophies (because they were handed out). There’s red this year.
How do you make things look good for a full tournament?
Day 14 should look as good as the first day. Each person (the gardening team) has their own area and is proud. Mostly we are stuck and weeding when necessary. People sit on plants and crush them. We call it the “Wimbledon twist.” If you get crushed on one side, you can guide us throughout the two weeks.
How do you keep showing the Grass Court without much effort?
If you hired 18 ground staff to take care of your grass (as we do) then it would look pretty good.
When will you start planning?
I’m thinking about it next year. That’s when we can see where things aren’t working as we thought we thought, or when the plants aren’t in there as we thought we were from the growers (they are seeing). It is constantly changing and evolving.
How do you manage your sustainability needs with traditional bedding schemes?
Currently, we are doing peat-free compost tests in our (Petunia) hanging baskets (and elsewhere). They and hydrangeas are the most difficult without peat. They are very thirsty. So far, success hasn’t been that good. We will do more years of testing to see if we continue to try different plants completely peat-free.
If summer gets hotter, should planting be rethinked?
In 2008, there was a ban on Hosepipe methods before the championship, and then stopped using so many hydrangeas. It introduces more Mediterranean plants. The challenge is to adapt them to the landscape and climate, as they have to deal with heavy frost and cold winters as well. Most plants in the Mediterranean do not like cold winters.
Where do you source your hanging baskets?
Burns Nursery in Surrey. They’ve been doing our basket for about 20 years.
What happens to all the plants when the event is over?
Raise funds for charity or sell them to staff to donate.
The interviews were compiled and condensed for clarity and space.
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