// Gardening


Historic Royal Palaces


since surrounding the central reflective pool. What a perfect place to contemplate – a place where Diana herself admired the changing floral displays over the years and where her sons now spend hours of their lives just a dandelion clock’s waft away. (More planty and attractive than a stone’s through I thought.)


Now as the blooms of summer begin to fade, swathes of ornamental grasses surround and caress passers-by, a favourite of mine being Stipa gigantea. Phlox paniculata ‘Alba’ and Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ emit their last shining rays and seed heads of Agapanthus ‘Polar Ice’ and ‘Artic Star’ promise us that beauty never really fades.


It is not just the elegance of white gardens that impress me but the ability of white flowers to cling on to the last glimpses of daylight, they really do stand out when the light begins to fade. The white garden will remain in place until the end of this month, when a new planting scheme will be actioned. If you can’t make it to London, then why not create your own Princess inspired patch with one of the many plants bearing her name and available from many a good nursery.


I love Clematis ‘Princess Diana’ – covered in small tulip shaped pink flowers, compact and ideal for scrambling through a shrub or over an obelisk. In flower from summer to autumn, and available from suppliers such as Raymond Evison and Taylors Clematis, it really does offer a splash of perfect pink.


However, if white is the only way forward for you, then Rose ‘Princess of Wales’ from Harkness Roses should keep you classically


content. This was Diana’s choice and this white floribunda is free flowering and totally beautiful, let’s keep England’s rose alive.


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