As the drought in the South East worsened, how did the world's largest flower show cope?

With temperatures sending thermometers into overdrive, and hosepipe restrictions in force, lack of water was never more relevant at a flower show. Yet at Hampton Court, with its unique water gardens category and this year a new category for water-hungry container gardening, saving water was a particularly tricky business.

The RHS said it cancouldn't sink a borehole at the historically-important Hampton Court in the same way as it did at Chelsea, so they opted to minimise water use instead. Hoses were taken out of the floral marquees in favour of dip tanks, and the RHS also recycled water from water features for watering elsewhere.

Drought-resistant planting is still a major issue for many show gardens. The one which took saving water most to its heart was The Sunshine Garden, from the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. With about a quarter of the city’s land laid down to gardens and allotments, London's gardeners are key to any water-saving initiative.

Bearing this in mind, it's more than a little ironic that the garden is co-sponsored by Thames Water, currently unpopular with gardeners in the London and Thames Valley area for imposing a hosepipe ban while it loses up to 1,000 litres of water a day through leakages.

The Mayor is among the company’s critics, yet he defends his decision to bring them on board for the garden.

London consumes far more precious drinking water than is sustainable in the long term

"Even if Thames Water were to eliminate the problem of leaks altogether, global warming would still mean that London consumes far more precious drinking water than is sustainable in the long term," he says. "That's why I will work with everyone, including Thames Water, to encourage Londoners not to waste water."

The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show wouldn't be the same without its famous water gardens - yet again, it's hard to justify constructing ponds in the middle of a drought.

"Unfortunately, we probably look like the bad guys on site because of the fact that we've got so much water in the gardens," says Pete Sims, designer of Come Rain or Shine which featured a large, lushly-planted pool. "But all the gardens took a considerable dousing with water to keep them alive."

He pointed out that he planted most of his plants straight into the pond’s margins (inner banks) so they didn't needed any watering at all. And any watering he did was drained straight back into the pond again to be recycled.

There was also an emphasis this year on container gardening, with not only the Window Box and Hanging Basket competition, but also a new category - Inspiring Spaces - all about container gardening.

Bob Sweet, RHS Show Organiser, admits that had they known in January, when entries were being considered, that the drought would be so severe this summer, the RHS might have tackled the issue differently.

"Next year we'll theme container planting around those plants that need less water," he says. "It’s still possible to grow containers and hanging baskets and still keep watering to a minimum if you use the right plants."