Hampton Court Flower Show will boast Britain’s biggest butterfly display this week — a late replacement for Diarmuid Gavin’s planned centrepiece.
Gavin, 49, wanted to create an extravagant Willy Wonka-style garden using 18 shipping containers but he was unable to find a sponsor.
Instead, the Royal Horticultural Society turned to the Eden Project for an alternative main feature.
It agreed to recreate the Cornish site’s world–famous rainforest biome and will exhibit 3,000 tropical butterflies in a 80ft by 30ft dome. The Eden Project’s Catherine Cutler said: “We’ve brought in thousands of plants, including loads of nectar plants for the 3,000 butterflies.” When the show opens tomorrow, visitors will be able to experience jungle conditions and rainforest plants from a raised walkway.
Unusual varieties of butterfly on display will include the spectacular blue morpho, which has metallic bright blue wings.There will also be owl butterflies, which can grow up to eight inches in diameter.
Plants on show will include a Titan Arum — nicknamed corpse flower due to its pungent odour of rotting flesh. Jenna Stuart’s The Witches of Macbeth design imagines the witches’ home in William Shakespeare’s play. Meanwhile, Caroline Tait’s Tip of the Iceberg conceptual garden has 300 alpine flowers growing around a stack of Zanussi freezers.
