I love all the flowers!! But my favorites is the Hollyhocks. I have alot of hollyhock seeds I'm taking to Calif with me and will plant them asap. I'm so jealous that you get to such a beautiful show and get to see all the wonderfull flowers and plants.

Dear Marti, no you get to see all the beautiful flowers as well without having to pay and get wet twice or soaked in mud! Plus having to carry a lot of very heavy and expensive camera gear around with me!
I get pushed, walked over and generally abused as I am taking a photo, and you can sit in comfort and look at them. But do you know why I do it Marti? Because I love plants and I love to make people Happy!
So to think I have made someone Happy many thousands of miles away from me is great. A lot of people cannot get to England to see these shows but now they can thanks to the internet, Dave and me!
I too love hollyhocks and to see them with the with foxgloves was amazing. Although foxgloves are a pain to me as they grow everywhere here and I am forever pulling them out as they are like weeds.
You get planting my dear, and look out for Part 3 and Part 4!

Neil.

Holding my breath!! Keep up the good work.

Dear Marti, don't hold your breath it will not be out yet for awhile.
Will you still have a computer in California? Don't want to lose you do we!
Regards.
Neil.

My computer will be riding on the passenger seat, all strapped in for safety. Just won't be able to get one line ti I get to my son's house in Ventura.

No Marti, I would not have that! No internet access, no me, your decision!
Regards.
Neil.

I know,but I have to make the trip and save my grandson from stupid daycare providers. I wish I had a laptop and internet connection for it, but OH WELL!

Dear Marti, we have wi fi over here and even my big Mac is wireless does not need a cable for the internet!
No Internet no me! Surely something can be sorted out?
You cannot move and lose everything and your internet as well.
Love.
Neil.

Once I get to my son's house I will be back on line. I'll only be off line from the 23rd of July til the 1st of Aug.

Oh Marti a full 9 days without you! What are we to do?

Neil.

What am I going to do without all my friends for 9 days? You'll just have to be ready for me to come back on and tell you about my trip.

That would be really nice Marti. Wow is it one of my trips through the rain and mud?
Or are you taking the easy way and getting the train?
Take your camera with you, and get some spectacular shots.

Neil.

I'll be driving my 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee. So I can sitesee on the way. Yes the camera is riding up front with me.

I send lots of pictures of England and nobody sends any of America! Apart from Mc Donalds adverts!
Good on you Marti, you should come to England your camera would wear out with me there!
Show us some shots?

Neil.

I would love to be able to travel to different countrys. I love to meet people and learn about their country and culture.

It is lovely to see other places cultures, food and their gardens> I have been to many place. but it is always nice to come back home!

Neil.

Neil, thank you so much for the heads-up on the new article -- the photos are beautiful, someday I may give up my haphazard flower gardening for something more organized! I love the giant alliums, I have some of those and they are amazing plants and obviously very hardy, as I'm in the far north in the states. I wish I could grow Japanese maples! Please send some of the rain here, if you would be so kind -- my rain barrels are getting a little low...

Thanks for sharing with us!

Dear Sandy, please do not give up what you do! Formal gardens are very nice but are a pain to look after, believe me. One mistake and years of work are down the chute, I have seen it happen so many times when I was a Head Gardener. You have to walk away and calm down, or get convicted of murder! Do you know Sandy I once saved an under gardeners life, as he went out on his Birthday at lunchtime for a drink in a pub, which was strictly not allowed. I got a call from the pub landlord informing me that one of my under gardeners had too much to drink, and was playing around on the slipway to the River Thames, which is not a good idea. I went to sort this out and the moment he saw he ran and slipped straight into the River which is dangerous there.
It turned out he could not swim and the amount of alcohol he had drunk did not help. Suddenly he disappeared under the water, and I had to go in a drag him out! By this time he was not breathing, so while someone called an Ambulance I had to resuscitate him. I was not amused to say the least! When I got back to work, my big boss had heard about this and saw me covered in water and mud. So he asked me what was going on, with my typical sense of humour I told him not much I just fancied a dip in the River!
Regards.
Neil.

Neil, you have certainly had some adventures! I am happy that all was well with both of you at the end, at least. You must have been ready to head to the pub yourself at that point, I'd think.

I doubt you need to worry about me ever having a formal garden, I don't believe it would go with my "middle of a cedar swamp" lifestyle ! It probably wouldn't hurt me to just do a little more planning, however, instead of sticking things here and there more or less at random; although the one time i slaved over a plan for my perennial garden it pretty quickly got out hand and it now no longer even resembles the original plan. Well, the shape is the same... and I really do love the way it looks in the spring, when the daffodils are blooming --

Dear Sandy, gardening is about what you want and where you live and not about what other want or think you should have!
My garden is a gravel garden, that is because of the thousands of miles I walked behind lawnmowers cutting lawns in straight lines!
I do like to see the formal gardens, because I do not have to do them anymore, or be in charge of idiots! So I just plant the things I like where I want them!
When I was in charge and the said incident happened with someone going for a swim that could not swim, I was allowed in the pub! But only with my Boss who was a Retired Admiral! Thee to four times a week he would take me out for lunch in the Queens Rooms for lunch and to discuss matter arising, as he called it! Of course you were not allowed to drink beer, it was strictly wine, Port or Brandy!
Sandy grow whatever you want, and put it wherever you want, as if the whole world was the same, it would be very boring!
Regards.
Neil