Behind a bank of trees in the middle of Hyde Park is one of London’s best-kept gardening secrets.
Most people remain completely unaware of the 80,000 sq ft greenhouse lurking there as you look north across the Serpentine. This greenhouse grows 98 percent of the plants used each year across the Royal Parks — about 450,000 in total. It’s also where staff propagate and care for all park plants.
“There isn’t another glasshouse like this in the UK, but very few people know we exist,” says assistant manager Martin Hojka. “We have 12 different zones; each can be controlled independently so we can give the plants exactly what they need.”
The roof, he adds, is “much like the roof of Wimbledon’s center court and is able to fold almost completely open, helping control temperatures and get plants ready for being planted outside without having to move them.”
Most famous are the red geraniums found in the bedding displays at Buckingham Palace. “We grow 12,000 each year, 1,000 of which are grown to over a meter tall,” says Hojka.
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