Another RHS flower show

So, Hampton Court - a symbol of our wonderful heritage of occupation, oppression and exploitation. And apparently the favourite palace of Henry VIII - the only serial killer to have six RHS show gardens constructed in his honour.

On to the gardens - same old same old; the only one to catch my eye (literally, the BBC showed it for about 1.5 seconds) was Jack Dunkley's desert garden. But nice to see that an allotment won best show garden.

And then of course there was all the greenwashing from the sponsors. Quilted Velvet were back of course but were topped this time by Sadolin with their lovely Nature to Nurture garden which, according to the blurb on the RHS video, "..shows both physically and figuratively the meeting point between nature and nurture, rather like Sadolin's nurturing woodstains.."

Sadolin (a Danish subsidiary of Crown Paints) are currently experimenting with nanotechnlogy in their products - messing about with nature at the molecular level - not exactly what I'd call nurturing. This from the Red-Green Alliance of Denmark (translation by google):

"Today, for example, nanotechnology is used in everyday things such as varnish, paint, fluorescent tubes, metals and some cleaning agents such as self-cleaning glass. The products are available from Sadolin, Silvan and supermarkets all over the country - but watch out for cancer, acid, breathing problems, hallucinations, hair loss, teddy bears, Jimmy Carter, chain letters, støvfnatmider, viper saliva, yellow and brown bedding, tuned Yamaha and what other dirt that may - or may be not - included with purchase of nano-products. That is not to know." Don't say you haven't been warned.

Part of the RHS mission statement is "to help create healthy, sustainable communities and support long-term environmental improvements." Obviously the corporate slut of the week award goes to the RHS. The hair loss must be affecting their brains.

I did like the conceptual gardens though. Maybe next year someone could do one in honour of the victims of Peter Sutcliffe, complete with teddy bears, yellow and brown bedding and what other dirt may or may not be. But that would be in poor taste. Sleep well.