The Garden Party at Clarence House

Very very interesting Beattie, loved it, thanks so much, going into favs, loved the recycling and unusual pots etc. Most enjoyable blog.

great blog, love these photos. Please can I have a piggy bank like that one?

Love the blog Beattie, well done :o)

Yes, I did miss you ....
glad you were having such a good time....
well done on the sewing, and
your photos are very interesting...
... lovely gardens ..
adding to GoYpedia Feature Ideas :o)

Thank you for your kind comments. I had a really good time :-) in so many different ways, and wanted to share the pics of the gardens which are very rarely open to the public.

Yes, that really was a great blog, thank you. Love the planting ideas! I live close to Highgrove and have been round that garden a couple of times, very eclectic! Adding this to my favourites!!

This blog is really interesting Beattie, thanks so much for giving us a peep at such select and unseen gardens. No, I don't have a blue velvet rope round my grass either but then I can't really call it a lawn! Lots of interesting ideas and a shame the drought resistant garden was only temporary. Not surprised you stayed longer than planned. A great blog :o))

Beattie...your blog was so interesting and your photos really show the event and gardens off so well. I am intrigued by one of the containers in your photo (the 1st one)....it looks like a milk crate...am I mistaken? The door with the lettuce is an unusual use of an old door....we've got an old door so maybe I should recycle it before the fence contracters remove it.

I've seen (in photos) an old dresser planted up with flowers and wondered how effective it would be due to the low depth of the drawers. It appears it is working fine with the vegetables. I like the idea very much.

Thanks for posting such a wonderful blog, Beattie. I can see why you'd want to return again next year!

Whistonlass, there were plants growing in everything you can think of. I didn't make a mental note of it, but that looks like a milk (or beer?) crate with Lollo Rosso in it. I don't know how long furniture (chest of drawers or a dresser) would last out in the rain. I expect the joints would give way in a year or two and plywood would delaminate in less time, but they're eye-catching while they last.

I should give it a try....the milk crate. We have one going spare since retiring from our newsagent's business and it's a pain. I keep moving it from place to place and hubby says....keep it....it makes a good stepping frame for reaching up to water the hanging baskets! They say there's a use for everything....lol

I can only assume it would need to be lined, else the soil would all escape. I, like you Beattie, wondered about the durability of a dresser in the garden but I have a rather sheltered spot that I think might work once the back garden is sorted out. A project for spring....2 projects even....milk crate and dresser! lol

Thanks for the pics Beattie - love the chest of drawers! Events ran away with me and I ran out of time, I did have the intention of going if I could. If I'd known about it much earlier, I'd have planned for it. Maybe next year. That last pic showing the beautiful planter, I love it. One question though - I keep seeing this OH thing in people's blogs, etc., and I realise it refers to your husbands, but what on earth does OH actually stand for?

OH = Other Half - it could mean "husband", "wife", "partner" - of opposite or same sex. It covers all bases without being specific. I use it when I don't want to give any extra information away. ;-)
I had to ask what MIL meant when I first saw it ("Mother-in-law" is the answer)

As I wrote earlier, I do hope there is another garden party, but I hope the publicity will be better next time. The only ads I know about were in the Daily Telegraph, which offered a discount on prebooked tickets for parties, and an ad in a London evening paper that my SIL saw.

Still, the organisers can build on this year's success and increase the profile of next year's event.

Duh, of course its obvious now you've told me....

Thanks for a really interesting blog. Lots of original ideas for growing vegies, in particular. Drought resistant garden: yes, something to take seriously, it seems to me. And not just as a temporary display!

Lovely blog and pics Beattie . I too really like the chest of drawers and the drought resistant garden :-))

Hi Beattie, sorry so late, but still trying to catch up with everything. Brilliant blog, on my favs to look at at leisure. I never knew about this either, it all looks fantastic, you would think there would be coaches and everything from across the country, and surely they could have all sorts of free publicity. :-))

Thank you Bornagain! I'm glad you found the blog, and found it interesting as well. I couldn't understand how they couldn't have got the advertising for the event organised as well as the event itself was. I hope that the second time around (if there is one...) that it will get more press coverage and more pre-publicity. I got the impression that the "punters" the organisers were aiming for was somewhat upper class, and there just weren't enough of them.

That leaves me out then lol:-)

Just googled, what a brilliant idea Morsbags is. I see no reason not to ban plastic ones:-)

That leaves all of us out, I reckon! :-)

There are pages and pages of posts on the Garden Party on the morsbags forum at
http://www.morsbags.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=2344
from Pol telling us we'd been invited, organising our part of it, to reports and pics from people who'd been "working".

You're right, morsbags are a stroke of genius! Take something that's not used any more (old curtains and duvet covers) make them into useful bags and give them away free so that people don't need plastic bags. It wins on so many levels! :-)

Great blog, loved it, many thanks, TLG

Gosh, it seems like a long time ago! Thanks for your kind comment TLG! :-)

WOW Beattie, thank you for the reply to my kaffir lilly, its opened up a whole new world!! what a lovely blog, I so enjoyed reading it thank you for taking the time to share it with us lowly patch gardeners lol x

Thanks Patricia, it seems like a very long time ago now! If they do another one I'll be volunteering again. We both (my OH came too) found it very tiring commuting, though we got used to it again after a week or so. (Being escapees from London, some decades ago.)

I'm sure your kaffir lilies will thrive - I find they're very robust.

Beattie - this is great. some very clever ideas with containers. The door with the lettuces and youghurt pots. How exactly does that work, as the door is at an angle to the wall. Very clever imaginative and eye-catching - also the upturned milk bottles with herbs. Thanks for this - very worthwhile viewing

I think the door was leaning against a low frame - you can see a bit of it in the shot of the back of the door. There is a stout bit of wood (horizontal) against the back of the door. If it also had a "toe piece" in front holding the bottom of the door so it couldn't swing up it would be fairly stable, barring hurricanes.

And the ladder arrangement is a perfectly suitable feature...funnily enough I had an idea to use my step ladder as a prop the other day (running out of pots) but it wouldn't work - the rungs of my ladder aren't the right shape or size to take pots comfortably - I tried a few.

I think the "ladder" is actually a "whatnot" - a triangular shelf unit made to fit in a corner. My granny had one in the front parlour (that we almost never went into).

yes I see now - a purpose built prop. What did your Granny use it for in the parour ? - to stack stuff presumably

...sorry the "l" on my keyboard is playing up - most annoying - "parlour" that is....

I think I only went in the "special" front room, the parlour, about twice. The curtains were kept almost closed all the time. Maybe some photos in frames, knick knacks, ornaments (a step up from "A Present from xxxx" vases)?