(22 Apr 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hampton Court Palace, UK – 17 April 2025
1. Wide of Hampton Court Palace with purple and white tulips in foreground
2. Tulips
3. Various of Hampton Court Palace’s head gardener Graham Dillamore looking at tulips
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Graham Dillamore, head gardener, Hampton Court Palace:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
"We have hand-planted over 100,000 tulip bulbs, and that consists of about 70 different varieties and ten different types of tulips this year. Tulips are generally quite easy to work with, but you’ve got to plan ahead. You’ve got to get your bulbs in the ground the previous autumn. So these bulbs you see behind me, they were all planted in September and October 2024 and here we are in April 2025. So you need to plan ahead. I’ve already started now planning for 2026. That’s how long it takes."
5. Various of tulips
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Rachel Mackay, Head of Hampton Court Palace:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
"So we’re at Hampton Court Palace, which is best known as a home of Henry XIII. But it was also the home of William (III) and Mary (II). And they were really well known for bringing the tulip craze over from the Netherlands to England when they came to rule. And that’s why we have the festival here today. So springtime is when Hampton Court Palace Gardens look their best anyway. But what makes it even better at the moment is 100,000 tulips. It looks absolutely beautiful in the gardens, and we were recently awarded an award for being Britain’s largest and greatest heritage tulip garden in the UK."
7. Close of red and white tulips
8. Wide of courtyard and fountain inside Hampton Court Palace with red tulips
9. Close of tulips
10. Wide of inner courtyard of Hampton Court Palace
11. Mid of red tulips
STORYLINE:
The red brick Tudor palace of Hampton Court Palace never looks better than when it’s basking in the spring sunshine and surrounded by a hundred thousand tulips.
This is the fourth year Hampton Court has hosted its tulip festival and this year’s clement weather through March and April has been a boon for gardeners at the Palace.
Everywhere you look the gardens are bedecked with tulips in every shape and color.
A team of volunteers helped to plant the many bulbs, but it was head gardener Graham Dillamore’s job to oversee the enormous task of planning and designing the beds.
"Here we are at Hampton Court Palace. And this is our fourth year for our fantastic Tulip Festival. We have hand planted over 100,000 tulip bulbs. And that consists of about 70 different varieties and ten different types of tulips this year," says Dillamore.
One of the reasons tulips are so popular with visitors is the wide spectrum of colors they provide in the early to mid spring.
For Dillamore, it is vital to consider which colors will compliment one another when he is planting the bulbs.
But like most artists, inspiration is all around him.
Tulips grow well in most soil types and became the symbol of the Ottoman Empire (based in modern day Turkey).
But even if the tulip doesn’t present any particular challenges for a gardener, they need planning ahead.
"You’ve got to get your bulbs in the ground the previous autumn. So these bulbs you see behind me, they were all planted in September and October 2024 and here we are in April 2025. So you need to plan ahead. I’ve already started now planning for 2026," says Dillamore.
But Hampton Court Palace in fact has a long history with the tulip, thanks to William III.
AP Video shot by Tom Rayner
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e116c4ef60474c4eb07f014015ee0fb8
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in April 28, 2025, 12:05 am.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
