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The World Food Garden

You can taste your way around the world at one of the most recent additions to RHS Garden Wisley – our garden of all things edible

Worth knowing...

  • Now open The World Food Garden is part of the development of RHS Hilltop – The Home of Gardening Science and opened on 24 June 2021
  • Around the world The World Food Garden is 3,738m2. That’s just shy of an acre devoted to growing your own
  • Wisley first A trained fruit boundary of alternating fencing styles surrounds this garden, a first of its kind for the RHS

Edible delights

The development of RHS Hilltop – The Home of Gardening Science presented the perfect opportunity to turn an old storage yard into acres of gorgeous gardens. The World Food Garden takes its lead from the traditional kitchen garden, synonymous with English country estates, but with a contemporary twist.

RHS Chelsea Gold medal winning designer Ann-Marie Powell, who worked with the Wisley Curatorial Team, wants this space to inspire visitors to recreate some of the ideas they see here in their own gardens.

Inspiring planting

This large space, abutting RHS Hilltop, is split into three zones with a central axis running through the middle, lined with edible, annual and perennial flowers and pergolas, dripping with gourds and other climbing vegetables.

Smaller gardens radiate off this path for visitors to explore and imagine themselves gardening at home, on a roof or in an awkward space. Inspiring our visitors to grow is key.

A demonstration kitchen provides further inspiration for chefs and gardeners, amateurs and professionals alike. This café area is surrounded by edible flowers and herbs perfect for picking fresh and sprinkled directly on to the plate.

Familiar favourites and exotic edibles

Visitors can wander among beds of crops selected from RHS Award of Garden Merit varieties, get lost in a maze of lesser-known exotic edibles or sit and graze in the herb and edible flower zone.

This acre of garden is surrounded by a trained fruit boundary with alternating fencing to demonstrate different growing conditions and training techniques.

The garden seamlessly links through to the Orchard, drawing more people into the lesser-visited areas of Wisley.

Linking pollinators with edibles

A large bund rises above the World Food Garden providing a perfect spot to take in the view of the gardens below and linking the garden with the neighbouring Wildlife Garden.

This hill behind the RHS Hilltop building creates a connection, both metaphorically and physically, between the pollinators and the crops that rely on them.

Explore the zones in the World Food Garden
This area is filled with vegetables found on allotments up and down the country. But rather than being sown in traditional strips, here they are grown in all manner of shapes to inspire the visitor and show what can be achieved at home. All the crops are selected from some of the best performing AGM varieties to boost your chances of success.

Good to Grow

This area is filled with vegetables found on allotments up and down the country. But rather than being sown in traditional strips, here they are grown in all manner of shapes to inspire the visitor and show what can be achieved at home.

All the crops are selected from some of the best performing AGM varieties to boost your chances of success.

Get lost in the amazing world of lesser known varieties of fruit and veg, like Japanese wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius or lablab beans (Lablab purpureus), and be inspired to grow something you might not have tried before. This maze of beds includes tender plants which will gradually replace our more familiar crops as the climate warms.

World Food

Get lost in the amazing world of lesser known varieties of fruit and veg, like Japanese wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius or lablab beans (Lablab purpureus), and be inspired to grow something you might not have tried before.

This maze of beds includes tender plants which will gradually replace our more familiar crops as the climate warms.

This amazing gourmand’s garden is a chocolate box of edible delights roughly spilt into three sections; Edible Flowers and cafe area, Good to Grow and the World Food maze. Explore this gallery to get a taste of what is in store on a visit to the garden.

This amazing gourmand’s garden is a chocolate box of edible delights roughly spilt into three sections; Edible Flowers and cafe area, Good to Grow and the World Food maze.

Explore this gallery to get a taste of what is in store on a visit to the garden.

Brighten up your plot and your plate with edible flowers in this zone. Take inspiration for your space as you wander amongst beds or pause and gaze at the display, taking in the scent while imagining rustling up the evening’s menu.  

Edible flower and café

Brighten up your plot and your plate with edible flowers in this zone.

Take inspiration for your space as you wander amongst beds or pause and gaze at the display, taking in the scent while imagining rustling up the evening’s menu.
 

This area is filled with vegetables found on allotments up and down the country. But rather than being sown in traditional strips, here they are grown in all manner of shapes to inspire the visitor and show what can be achieved at home. All the crops are selected from some of the best performing AGM varieties to boost your chances of success.

Good to Grow

This area is filled with vegetables found on allotments up and down the country. But rather than being sown in traditional strips, here they are grown in all manner of shapes to inspire the visitor and show what can be achieved at home.

All the crops are selected from some of the best performing AGM varieties to boost your chances of success.

Get lost in the amazing world of lesser known varieties of fruit and veg, like Japanese wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius or lablab beans (Lablab purpureus), and be inspired to grow something you might not have tried before. This maze of beds includes tender plants which will gradually replace our more familiar crops as the climate warms.

World Food

Get lost in the amazing world of lesser known varieties of fruit and veg, like Japanese wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius or lablab beans (Lablab purpureus), and be inspired to grow something you might not have tried before.

This maze of beds includes tender plants which will gradually replace our more familiar crops as the climate warms.

This amazing gourmand’s garden is a chocolate box of edible delights roughly spilt into three sections; Edible Flowers and cafe area, Good to Grow and the World Food maze. Explore this gallery to get a taste of what is in store on a visit to the garden.

This amazing gourmand’s garden is a chocolate box of edible delights roughly spilt into three sections; Edible Flowers and cafe area, Good to Grow and the World Food maze.

Explore this gallery to get a taste of what is in store on a visit to the garden.

Brighten up your plot and your plate with edible flowers in this zone. Take inspiration for your space as you wander amongst beds or pause and gaze at the display, taking in the scent while imagining rustling up the evening’s menu.  

Edible flower and café

Brighten up your plot and your plate with edible flowers in this zone.

Take inspiration for your space as you wander amongst beds or pause and gaze at the display, taking in the scent while imagining rustling up the evening’s menu.
 

“Growing vegetables has inspired me. During lockdown in 2020 I have grown so much of my own and it really is wonderful. It is so very satisfying growing something you can eat.”

Ann-Marie Powell

“Growing vegetables has inspired me. During lockdown in 2020 I have grown so much of my own and it really is wonderful. It is so very satisfying growing something you can eat.”

Ann-Marie Powell

Plants in this section

  •
Fragaria × ananassa 'Redgauntlet' (F)
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
<em>Fragaria</em> × <em>ananassa</em> 'Redgauntlet' (F)
Cucurbita pepo
  • 1–1.5 metres
  • 1–1.5 metres
<em>Cucurbita</em> <em>pepo</em>
Mentha suaveolens 'Variegata' (v)
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 1–1.5 metres
<em>Mentha</em> <em>suaveolens</em> 'Variegata' (v)
Tropaeolum majus
  • 1.5–2.5 metres
  • 1.5–2.5 metres
<em>Tropaeolum</em> <em>majus</em>
Helianthus annuus
  • 2.5–4 metres
  • 0.5–1 metres
<em>Helianthus</em> <em>annuus</em>
Fragaria × ananassa Xareni ('Drisstrawsixtyeight') (F)
<em>Fragaria</em> × <em>ananassa</em> <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Xareni</span> ('Drisstrawsixtyeight') (F)
Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum'
  • 1–1.5 metres
  • 0.5–1 metres
<em>Pennisetum</em> <em>setaceum</em> 'Rubrum'
Mentha × piperita
  • 0.5–1 metres
  • 1–1.5 metres
<em>Mentha</em> × <em>piperita</em>
Cornus kousa
  • 4–8 metres
  • 2.5–4 metres
<em>Cornus</em> <em>kousa</em>
Buddleja davidii
  • 2.5–4 metres
  • 2.5–4 metres
<em>Buddleja</em> <em>davidii</em>
Stachys byzantina
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 0.5–1 metres
<em>Stachys</em> <em>byzantina</em>
Cosmos bipinnatus
  • 1.5–2.5 metres
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
<em>Cosmos</em> <em>bipinnatus</em>
Fragaria × ananassa 'Hapil' (F)
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
<em>Fragaria</em> × <em>ananassa</em> 'Hapil' (F)
Fragaria × ananassa 'Redgauntlet' (F)
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
<em>Fragaria</em> × <em>ananassa</em> 'Redgauntlet' (F)
Cucurbita pepo
  • 1–1.5 metres
  • 1–1.5 metres
<em>Cucurbita</em> <em>pepo</em>
Mentha suaveolens 'Variegata' (v)
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 1–1.5 metres
<em>Mentha</em> <em>suaveolens</em> 'Variegata' (v)
Tropaeolum majus
  • 1.5–2.5 metres
  • 1.5–2.5 metres
<em>Tropaeolum</em> <em>majus</em>
Helianthus annuus
  • 2.5–4 metres
  • 0.5–1 metres
<em>Helianthus</em> <em>annuus</em>
Fragaria × ananassa Xareni ('Drisstrawsixtyeight') (F)
<em>Fragaria</em> × <em>ananassa</em> <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Xareni</span> ('Drisstrawsixtyeight') (F)
Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum'
  • 1–1.5 metres
  • 0.5–1 metres
<em>Pennisetum</em> <em>setaceum</em> 'Rubrum'
Mentha × piperita
  • 0.5–1 metres
  • 1–1.5 metres
<em>Mentha</em> × <em>piperita</em>
Cornus kousa
  • 4–8 metres
  • 2.5–4 metres
<em>Cornus</em> <em>kousa</em>
Buddleja davidii
  • 2.5–4 metres
  • 2.5–4 metres
<em>Buddleja</em> <em>davidii</em>
Stachys byzantina
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 0.5–1 metres
<em>Stachys</em> <em>byzantina</em>
Cosmos bipinnatus
  • 1.5–2.5 metres
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
<em>Cosmos</em> <em>bipinnatus</em>
Fragaria × ananassa 'Hapil' (F)
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
<em>Fragaria</em> × <em>ananassa</em> 'Hapil' (F)
Fragaria × ananassa 'Redgauntlet' (F)
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
  • 0.1–0.5 metres
<em>Fragaria</em> × <em>ananassa</em> 'Redgauntlet' (F)

National Lottery Heritage Fund

The National Lottery Heritage Fund awarded £4 million to support the transformation at RHS Wisley, with more than half going towards RHS Hilltop and the surrounding gardens. This grant will also help fund inspirational activity programmes to further knowledge and skills, and widen engagement.

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