Projo Garden Blog

This might just be the best week of the summer to go to England.

If you're me.

Not only is it the Goodwood Festival of Speed, it's also the Hampton Court Flower Show.

(When I'm not editing the Home section of the Sunday Lifebeat Home section, which is most of the time, I edit projoCars, and I have a lot of fun doing it. If you've never looked at the section or the site, projoCars.com before, take a look sometime. I try to have something for all tastes.)

But I know, I know, you're here for the flowers.

The Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is another large outdoor show like the Chelsea Flower Show, and is held on the grounds of Hampton Court Palace a short distance outside London, in East Molesey, Surrey. But you can reach it easily on the London Underground (District Line to Richmond, then R68 bus), so it feels like London.

I have only been to Hampton Court when the show is not on, and it's worth visiting for its walk-in maze and the "Great Vine" -- reportedly the world's largest and oldest grape vine, planted in 1768, which has its own greenhouse and competition-free area cleared for its venerable root system. That's a plane-ticket-seller right there.

But what is making me wrinkle my freckly little nose in frustration is that Hampton Court garden designers have a large pond to play with -- called the Long Water. And this year they have turned it into an authentic Thai floating market -- complete with 15 life-size boats and boaters supplied by the Thai Tourist Board, laden with goods. It's a beautiful sight.

Think we could do that in Waterplace? Huh Barnaby! Couldwecouldwe!

The guerrilla gardeners I blogged about last week are there. Porsche has a garden with a ... Porsche in it. (I like gardening ... and cars. But strangely, not so much together. Neither is flattered by the proximity.)

So once again, here's a roundup of slideshows, stories and goodies from far away.

The Independent, Telegraph and Times of London all have nice slideshows. (The links take you to a slideshow index page, you need to scroll down a little.)

The Royal Horticultural Society has a lot more information and photos, including the best photo of the Thai floating market.

And if you're craving a closer-to-home garden event, the Wickford in Bloom garden tour on July 19 looks like a treat.

 Tags  Gardening Goodwood Festival of Speed Hampton Court Palace projoCars Royal Horticultural Society Thai floating market Wickford in Bloom

Comments

trudy said:

How come the garden blog dropped off the home page? It is certainly more interesting than some of the blogs that stayed there.

Also, I noticed that the projo logo in the upper lh corner of the web site pages no longer works as a link to the home page.

Link | July 13, 2008 8:27 AM
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David Miller said:

Thanks for this post. I love the summer flowers, and I love to read about the different varities. Please post another blog about summer flowers that are hearty throughout the year. Thanks.

Link | July 14, 2008 8:55 PM
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