Plants for communities
The Hyde Park Nursery handles the growth of the 450,000 bedding plants needed for the world-class flower displays across the eight Royal Parks. The facility grows some 900 different plant varieties needed for the summer displays – such as the scarlet pelargoniums grown to match the tunics of The King's Guard at Buckingham Palace - and the 300 varieties needed for the winter displays including yellow wallflowers.
Our Plants for Communities initiative seeks to ensure that this opportunity reaches the people who will benefit from them the most. Each year, a surplus of plants are grown as a precaution against losses. If it turns out that these surplus plants aren’t needed, The Royal Parks wants to give them for free to benefit local communities and add more colour to our shared spaces.
In tandem with this, our Learning programmes and resources offer the opportunity for your group to find out more about The Royal Parks.
Who’s eligible
In order to apply, your group must fall under one of the following categories:
- Non-fee paying schools
- Non-profit community groups that benefit local residents, who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford plants
- Small local charities
Applications from other types of groups may be considered if surplus plants are still available after all qualifying applications have been considered.
Please note due to the high volume of applications that we are anticipating this year, we will be providing time slots that you can sign up to on a first come first served basis if successful.
How it works
This initiative follows a timeline linked to the likely availability of surplus plants, as follows:
- Applications will be open during the month of April each year.
- You will receive a decision on your application in early June.
- If your application is successful, we will contact you via email to let you know. This email will contain details of how to sign up to an allocated time slot to collect your plants, including a map on how to get to the Nursery.
- Collection of plants will usually take place within two windows: June/July and then again in October/November.
- We ask that you return empty pots and trays to the Nursery as soon as you have finished with them, so that they can be re-used.
Applications for 2026 will open on Wednesday 1st April.
