Hampton Court countdown

Only four weeks until we start the build for Hampton Court Flower Show, and the garden will be judged just two weeks after that! After seeing the tears, disappointment and sheer exhaustion at Chelsea last week I'm beginning to wonder what I've let myself in for...although it's going to be sooooo exciting.

All the hard materials are sourced now, thanks to my brilliant partner in design Wendy. The plants (my special responsibility) are looking good, although I'm still having trouble sourcing some. One is a wild flower which is now very rare (I'm not telling you what it is so as not to spoil the surprise). That's it's rare in the wild does not surprise me in the least because I can't get the b....y seeds to germinate. At the other end of the plant fecundity scale, some which shouldn't flower until July are bursting to get out now, and there's only so much pinching out they'll stand before going into a big sulk. But then, just when I start to get a bit edgy, I think of the trees. Three slender, beautiful Betula utilis var. jacquemontii, planted in a clump when whips to look like a multistem.

Off for a run now. I'm in training for my role as labourer during the first stages of the build. Of course when it comes to the planting I can go all designer(y) and wax lyrical about drifts and swathes...