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Queen Mother's Garden

Just along from the Australia and New Zealand Garden, the Queen Mother’s Garden is a relaxed and peaceful space with a long season of interest from a luxuriant blend of foliage and flowering perennials

Looking its best in...

  • Spring Enjoy beautiful Malus blossom, carpets of narcissi on the north grass bank, and tulips and allliums in the borders
  • Summer A mix of bold, lush foliage and flowering perennials, including Catalpa bignonioides ‘Aurea’, crocosmias and echinaceas

A reflective space

Built on the site of an old pig park, from the time when Hyde Hall was a working farm, the Queen Mother's Garden is now a quiet and contemplative space with lush tropical borders and impressive panoramic views of the surrounding countryside.

Hyde Hall’s gardeners often refer to the area as ‘the plantsman’s garden’ for its eclectic collection of new and mature planting and its wide range of growing environments.

A refreshing view

In 2002, the garden underwent dramatic regeneration, opening up the space to wide sky vistas. Some of the original trees, including Malus (crab apple) and a slender avenue of Carpinus betulus (hornbeam), remain and have been refreshed with underplantings of herbaceous perennials and bulbs.

In mid-summer, a sheltered, west-facing area of the garden comes to the fore, with a dramatic display of tender and sub-tropical planting. Plants have been chosen for their bold, architectural foliage and include bananas, aeoniums and Tetrapanax papyrifer.

Tender plants feature in this area of the garden and need protection from frost in winter. Larger plants, such as the Musa basjoo (Japanese banana), are protected in late autumn once the leaves are removed, by placing a metal cage filled with straw over each. A plastic lid stops the straw getting wet. Smaller plants can be lifted from the border and given protection in a greenhouse heated to 5°C (41°F).

RHS Garden Hyde Hall Horticulturist

Tender plants feature in this area of the garden and need protection from frost in winter. Larger plants, such as the Musa basjoo (Japanese banana), are protected in late autumn once the leaves are removed, by placing a metal cage filled with straw over each. A plastic lid stops the straw getting wet. Smaller plants can be lifted from the border and given protection in a greenhouse heated to 5°C (41°F).

RHS Garden Hyde Hall Horticulturist

Plants in the Queen Mother's Garden

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.