What a week in London! I started the week at the house of the US Ambassador to England. The house is known as Winfield House and is located on the outer circle of Regents Park. It is a lovely estate located in the bustling city of London. I got a tour of the well maintained garden which nicely transitions between the formal rooms next to the house and the informal beds that line the estate boundaries. They are introducing more meadow into the garden which adds to the country house feeling of the garden. After leaving work that day I walked home through the park checking out the Queen Mary's Garden in the park as well as the elaborate bedding of the boardwalk. The head gardener at Winfield house set up a week full of visits allowing me to see several of the largest and most famous private gardens in London. On Tuesday we went for a tour of The Queen's gardens at Buckingham Palace. The head gardener of the palace gave us a tour of the grounds. It was truly amazing being in the palace gardens and being so close to the palace itself. To the right you will see a picture of the palace with a flag flying this flag symbolized that the queen was in residence that day how cool! No pictures of the garden though sorry for security reasons. After the tour I was off just down the road to the garden museum some place I was before but this time I got a tour from the gardener trainee who works there and then got the opportunity to give them a hand with some gardening. The trainee I was working with helped out a British landscape designer named Nigel Dunnett at the Chelsea Flower Show and he designed a new garden which was installed just outside Buckingham Palace we went to check it out. Nigel Dunnett was there and this was the occasion that he was officially presenting the garden to the queen. So not only did I get to meet Mr. Dunnett I also got to see the Queen of England!!!!! 
Wednesday was another visit this was to the Royal College of Physicians garden located near Regents Park. This is a garden that highlights plants that are used for medicinal uses. I got a tour of the garden which included a really good synopsis of the plants and their uses. I spent some time helping them with plant labels and then did a bit of weeding. After finishing work I decided to take stroll in the London Zoo. Being a big fan of the animals I had a wonderful time; I really enjoyed the penguin exhibit. 
Thursday I was off to Lambeth Palace the London home of the Arch Bishop of Canterbury. It is amazing that these people can have such nice private green spaces in such a sprawling city. This garden had several lovely features a pond, terrace, and chapel garden. I spent most of the day attacking a pampas grass which was quite the task. I was really impressed with the composting practices on this site with limited space they had an amazing compost system. The garden was looking superb the chapel was looking exceptionally good with irises, lavender, and calamintha.
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