Just as tennis players have a repertoire of strategies to maintain freshness in their game, so too does the All England Club gardening team.

Every year, visitors are wowed by the detail-perfect ornamental planting in the English country garden-scape of The Championships – admiration that extends this year to the 18-year-old Brazilian player Joao Fonseca, who said everything about Wimbledon is perfect, “even the flowers”.

The foundations of Wimbledon's horticultural game – the ground strokes, as it were – are based on clever play on the Club colours of purple, green and white with petunias, hydrangeas and Boston ivy; the visual puns on tennis balls with plenty of round-headed agapanthus and alliums; the topiary and stand-alone Acer trees.

The winners are often breakthrough performers – alternative ideas to fulfil the evergreen onetime slogan "Always Like Never Before".

And this year that prize might just go to the deep pink bee-magnet heads of allium sphaerocephalon, more commonly known as the round-headed leek.

“Every year we find ways of keeping it fresh, creating a different feel in different areas,” says Lead Gardener Robin Murphy, pointing out nuanced touches of yellow and orange amid the horticultural icons in the southern end of the Grounds, adding to the red blooms introduced in 2014 in tribute to the centenary of the First World War.

Freshness for 2025, however, is most notable in the allium-dotted wildflower planting and the team’s creativity with pollinator-friendly species. 

The Grounds are, quite literally, abuzz with lots of visibly active bees, flying insects and butterflies, thanks to a notable consolidation of the Club’s already impressive biodiversity mission.

This is cleverly achieved by creating “a mosaic of different habitats" for nature to thrive around the courts.

“We wanted to create pollinator pockets at different levels so that bees travelling through the Grounds can find havens when it’s busy with crowds," Murphy says.

"We like to be creative with pollinator-friendly species of plants, adding more open flowers to make it easy for them.”

To this end, every wall and space has been maximised. Up on the so-called Media Centre catwalk – a ledge of boxes that runs along the length of the building – is one such wildflower sanctuary for the nectar- and pollen-collectors.  

Another naturalistic area to the side of Practice Court 3 over at Aorangi – which Murphy has dubbed “The Flying Food Court” – seems to be Pollen Central judging by the number of bees hopping from one flower type to another.

So mesmerising is the action on the flower heads, it comes as a bit of a shock to realise there is a player drilling backhands behind the flower bed.

There are grasses for movement and a big range of flower types, including colourful echinacea, pretty leucanthemum daisies, winsome scabiosa, tall spiky loosestrife, salvia, the aforementioned allium and agapanthus. “Happily, purple, the club colour, is a favourite of bees and butterflies,” says Murphy.

The wildflower bank that skirts the player practice courts at Aorangi is a marvel for nine to ten months of the year, not just for The Championships.

So much so that the gardening team’s WhatsApp chat has become more about nature in general than plants.

Cue, Murphy playing a video on his phone of a goldfinch feeding on a thistle in the wildflower bank.

The Club now has two beehives set in protective shrubbery over in the Indoor Tennis Centre's grounds. The plan is that any honey that might be produced will be used in the restaurants at The Championships next year.

As well as the Living Wall on No.1 Court, it is visually pleasing to have ivy-clad walls of Centre Court and climbing hydrangeas on the Practice Courts complex wall, but they also provide a food source and habitat for birds and flying insects. “Even extra insulation on the buildings,” adds Murphy.

“It’s a cycle of benefits.”

As is the on-site composting operation whereby all green waste, cuttings and some coffee grounds are mulched on site and redistributed in good practice, boosted by horse manure (not fertilisers). Pests are largely controlled by natural predators. Reduce, recycle, re-use is the mantra.

“Our annual diversity gain is not a tick-box programme. It’s about positive change,” says Murphy. “We are aware of our standing and reach, and want to educate and engage in positive messaging. If every visitor takes a snippet of inspiration away, that’s a huge impact.”

There's no time like the present! To replicate your own Wimbledon wildflower patch, Murphy’s advice is as follows:

“Take a planter and put some trellis at the back. Add some climbing trachelospermum (jasmine) or clematis or ivy for the benefit of insects and then pot out three drought-tolerant flower types – spiky (salvia), open flower (geranium) and an umbel or clustered-head species (scabiosa, achillea or verbena). Then all you need is a bit of sun.”

Follow the official Wimbledon WhatsApp channel for the latest updates across the Grounds