then quit looking.. jeez ...

what.. do you get up every morning.. and go look.. just to torture yourself???

lol

ken

Or move to the Pacific Northwest :-)

Wow, you guys are all heart :)

I hear you, except my problem is every plant that I find that I MUST have, seems to be sold in the UK and not here. That is very annoying, also!

About UK pictures: someone on Lily forum noticed that one of the UK commercial sites "borrowed" my picture (taken in my garden, posted in 2007 in one of the thread on the Lily forum). I contacted the owner of that company. He answered that they did not sell a single bulb of this Lily yet (I guess my picture was not good enough ;)). He did agree to remove the picture or to mention my name.

I get English Garden magazine just to wallow in the pain.
Renee

Yea, but how enjoyable can the blooms really if one is too depressed from the abundance of gray, overcast days to appreciate them?

The gray and over cast days are mostly in the winter. I worked at Kew for 3 months (May, June, July) and the weather was pretty much perfect. There is something about the quality of light in England that makes the colors in the garden glow. I was just looking through pictures of my England internship and garden visits last night and I will always treasure that time. If I could have stayed I probably would have.

I'm addicted to BBC Gardens Illustrated. I just love the torture. You have to put the viewing in the context of most movies--suspend disbelief and consider it pure entertainment. I go to the movies for escape, not reality. Guess I look at UK garden magazines the same way!

Just to add to the torture...go visit some of those gardens in Europe. I went to see Monet's gardens at Giverny, France last May. Oo-la-la.

Cameron

Ha ha, Gardengal48, I was going to suggest the same thing! I really miss the PNW!

If I had gardens like they have I'd be showing them off too!! :O)

I subscribe to RHS "The Garden" and "The English Garden" to get my fix. I actually lived there for almost a year and yes, they really are as beautiful in person as they seem in the magazines. It's the mild weather and the fact that gardening is in their genes.

I have had a mild twinge of frustration about the same issue. I've complained to my library that they buy too many gar*dening books published in the UK and it is frustrating because finding the same pl*ants here is not usually possible and the climate information is all wrong. So I stay away from any books published in the UK if I can help it. IF I am reading it for informational purposes, but, some of my favorite books are of gar*dens in the UK. Gorgeous, inspirational gar*dens! Beth Chatto's shade gar*den. I would be visiting there every season every year if it were nearby. Highgrove and Meadows, are two more. I don't ever expect to have anything anywhere near that beautiful but I love looking at them. I wouldn't be trying to translate anything I see in any of those gar*dens. They do have pl*ants that we can't get here, so I try to keep my investigations into gar*dens and pl*ants available in this country and s*ave myself the frustration.

There are plenty of great gar*den pl*ants in the US. Lots of wonderful na*tive pl*ants. The American Gar*den can be gorgeous in it's own way. I don't know if you realize it or not, but the English have lusted after American pl*ants for years and you will find many of our natives in their gar*dens.

Is the glass half full or half empty? [g]

I'm reading a book called 'Merry Hall' by Beverly Nichols. An interesting read. Fascinating story about an English author who went in search of a property and found five acres that needed a complete gar*den overhaul and how he went about creating a new one. What an amazing experience to be able to do that. In the book he also has a gar*dener who takes care of an amazing kit*chen gar*den that I am just so envious of...lol.

Quite the sweeping generalization that plants look better in the UK than the US! The US is a huge country by comparison and has many different habitats for gardens.

I don't feel frustration at all about looking at attractive gardens in other places. I feel envy about some things in life, but gardening isn't one of them. Beautiful gardens can be created just about anywhere. I am a big fan of native plants because they connect me to THIS place and the critters that live here. They are a big part of the life of my gardens.

Anyway, IMHO while human-created gardens can be beautiful, there don't compare to the sublime beauty of a garden created by nature, untouched by human influence.

I have to agree, terrene, but with a twist. There is nothing to compare to natural beauty... untouched natural beauty. I remember seeing some of that on a small scale, when I was growing up but can't remember the last time I saw any. I have been enjoying watching the PBS series on the National Parks and that just takes my breath away. I've never been, but would LOVE to go. When you see untouched meadows and prairies and sweeps of natural native growth and trees that no one 'designed', well, if you had that in your backyard, or in your view, would you even have to bother gar*dening? [g]

So there is where I depart a little, because most of us do not have that in our en*vironment, let alone in our backyard. So since I don't have it and since I have no hope of 'recreating' it, I just settle for gar*dening at my own level of ability and getting a lot of enjoyment out of that. I plant natives and have about 50 different natives at this point, but I also enjoy non natives too. I try to find a balance and I avoid invasives.

Hey PM2 I don't have that pristine natural beauty in my backyard , although there might be snippets of it here and there in the neighborhood. Even if I did have it, I'd still garden - to grow food, to grow interesting natives or non-natives that aren't growing in the immediate environment, and because it's fun and creative and beautiful.

Also have to correct myself - I DO get a little envious of other gardeners who have FULL SUN! And wetlands! And a pond! Etc......guess I'm a big fat liar. :)

LOL terrene! Now that you mention it, I could use a little more sun and varieties of trees that I enjoy more, AND a little change in grade, and a little more space, AND, AND, AND! :-) But really, I am growing to appreciate my part sun more and more. As for change in grade, I imagine many people would envy the level flat gar*den that I have to work with. But those Silver Maples in my neighbors yard behind me...nope, still wishing for other trees!

I'm with prairiemoon2 on libraries up here avoiding gardening books with UK publishing houses. I don't think they even have a zone 4 in the UK. Do they even have zone 5? Anyplace that can grow citrus fruit shouldn't have the majority of gardening books in a northern New England library. Some, but not the majority. Last year when I began to plan my perennial garden I got books from the library. Every one was UK, and all the plants I loved were perennials to zone 7 or something. Nothing on cold weather plants!

It was a learning experience, though. I knew the Gulf Stream was powerful, but I had no idea it was THAT powerful!

Just got back from a trip to London. Didn't make it to Kew gardens like I wanted. We had to skip a number of spots because travelling with a 20 month old is not a simple as I thought it would be............

However the hampton court gardens were wonderful. Will post some pics later.

How did you feel about the long border at Hampton Court? Because 6 years ago when I was in England that was one of the examples I would use of one of the poorly made English gardens.

It killed me too because it is a wonderful space and has great potential. It was pretty clearly a case of funding. More garden then they were able to deal with on whatever budget or staff they were allotted.

And actually Kew itself isn't really known for its beautiful designed gardens. Though their satellite garden at Wakehurst Place was probably one of my favorite garden visits while I was there.

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I think you mean the border in the formal garden? Not a fan of that style anyway and it did seem like you could pack more into the space. I assumed it would fill in as the season progressed?

Loved the spring blooming space though which bordered the maze.

Your photos didn't post. :(

I believe the border I am talking about was outside of the formal parterre garden. It was touted as the "longest border in England" but as I said it was certainly nothing for them to brag about.

The Hampton Court Flower Show in July(again touted as the largest show in Europe. Are they overcompensating for something?) was really fun though. Not as posh as Chelsea perhaps but still an enjoyable experience.

I am a small village type, I live near one. When touring the UK we toured the villages. No expansive gardens, mostly small houses on small lots. What little ground that was available was usually intensely planted in flowering plants, lovingly tended. I also became a student of English "brasses". Any brass metal anywhere was polished to the point any engraving was largely removed. To me, a city is a city anywhere, but the village allows you to get a feeling for the people who live there and what it is they cherish. Al

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Here you go:

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:)
Dee

Here are a few more pics.

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perennialfan
I feel your pain. I am also green with envy. I WANT a formal garden with boxwood hedges neatly clipped and italian cypress trees and fabulous david austin roses and in z5 northern Ill it is not going to happen. It's a good thing i like coneflowers, daisies , blackeyed susans and hosta too, because I have a yard full of them!