As my devoted blog-o-philes know, nothing gets me more hot and bothered than a good garden. Better yet, a good garden show where they exhibit all sorts of new plants and whip up vignettes with blooms scattered hither and yon.
Hence, you can imagine my unbridled lust at the prospect of attending the annual Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, which was held at the glorious palace that once housed the much-married Henry VIII and his coterie (not to mention his myriad erstwhile wives). Now, the Brits like their plants more than most, so after taking the Tube from London to Richmond and then catching the bus to the palace, we were met by a tremendous surging crowd en route to the garden show. It was worse than the queue into Disney World on a hot summer day. But at least the Brits have manners and line up properly, so we quickly made it into the palace grounds, and, wow-ee!, I was in floral heaven.
Since blooms speak volumes, I am leaving it to my photos to demonstrate the glitter and glory of the afternoon.
Glorious, glorious, glorious!
I have never seen so many different varieties of roses, from climbers to tea jobbies and others that looked like carnations. Let’s just say that the tent housing the rose collection smelled to high heaven.
Leave it to those clever Brits to transform an old Royal Mail postbox into this stylish wall fountain!
Fragrant lavender paired with vines climbing up some glorious conservatory green trellis—simple and oh-so chic!
Look at this fabulous topiary sculpted into a ship setting sail! (Here’s what was going through my head when I saw this deliciousness: "My goodness, this must have been a lot of work. How can I take this idea home? Maybe I can find a version in plastic?")