Hartley Botanic is celebrating a five star rating for its tradestand at this year’s RHS Hampton Court Flower Show.
The stand showcases key elements of the Lancashire-based manufacturer’s 79 years of greenhouse design heritage, built on the quality and longevity of its handmade products and originally inspired by Victorian engineering. The stand features a vintage greenhouse built around 70 years ago, and still in full working order, and a Victorian hothouse planting scheme – referencing an era which was a key inspirer for Vincent Hartley and the birth of the first solely glass and aluminium greenhouse by the inventor and businessman. The tradestand, which also features edible plantings and an arid external garden, has been designed by Longview Design and built by The Outdoor Room, with plants sourced by Burford Garden Company.
The 1950s Semi-dodekagon 9 greenhouse on the Hartley Botanic stand, bearing the original V&N Hartley Ltd logo, was found in a customer’s garden in Northampton in full working order after being installed and reassembled numerous times over a 70 year period.
The company says that it is just one of many Hartley Botanic original structures which are still standing, such as the Hartley Botanic greenhouse at Belgrave Hall installed in 1950 and the glasshouse in Glasgow Botanical Gardens installed in 1988.
Also on the Hartley Botanic Hampton Court stand is a handmade Grange greenhouse filled with edibles and a handmade Grow & Store greenhouse dressed as a practical, outdoor storage room.
Hartley Botanic managing director Tom Barry commented: “We wanted our stand at RHS Hampton Court to communicate something of Hartley Botanic’s almost 80 year old company pedigree. The engineering genius of its structures, inspired by the Victorians, and its enduring commitment to Vincent Hartley’s founding principles of the very finest craftsmanship means the Lancashire business is still flourishing and growing.
“It also means that, in a throwaway age, Hartley Botanic’s greenhouses and glasshouses do truly stand the test of time, allowing generations of families to enjoy the latest gardening trends – whether exotic plant collecting or grow your own.”
