The Waltham Field station was there last year. I love the scholarly rose
garden there and I do my best to get to the rose sale and the plant sale in
the spring. Eugenia, zone 6, two towns west of Boston
"Anne Middleton/Harold Walker" wrote in message
news:Ke08a.303676$be.272227@rwcrnsc53...
Purely Opinions"

From Harold (not Anne) just south of Boston also.........the simple answer
to your question.......yes.....I lived there for the first 28 years of my
life........Chelsea Flower Show.......without a doubt, the finest in the
world.......some of the very best of gardners in the world live in the UK
as
do some of the very worst........on the average there is little question
in
my mind that the "average" UK gardener is superior to the "average" USA
gardener........the gap, however, is closing, due I think, to one main
factor........ the improvement over here in peoples attitude towards
gardening and the subsequent greater attention being paid. (towards the
top
of the list in USA hobbies with a decline in the UK as compared to 50
years ago when the average UK resident only thought of driving a car and
taking trips to foreign lands was but a dream and thus they had much more
time to spend gardening) .

If I ever wish for gardening info it is to the English references I
generally turn to rather than the USA ones.......I think their
publications
are better.(Take a look at the The American Horticultural Societies
"Encylopedia of Garden Plnats"........I suspect it is a copy of the
English
version with plant zones etc. added..........I suspect the Editor in Chief
of the USA publication is the same Editor of the UK version)

Chelsea Flower Show......a couple of years back I saw some amazing tomato
plants on display.....they were just fantastic........there is only one
other place have I seen such quality results.....the Waltham Experimental
Station east of Boston. Am not sure whether or not it is still in
operation
with the budget squeeze in Mass.......oh yes, the best over here can equal
the best over their and vice versa.

"Stick in the muds"....the older generation and not the youth of
today......we have them over here as well but not in the same
volume.......the USA attitude, in general, is more progressive in many
areas
but the world is catching up.

HW

p.s. If you are a top notch/keen gardener in the UK you can garden
anywhere
in the world with quick success - the weather conditions over there being
what they are and the adversities they present lead to many creative and
ingenious solutions to growing problems.......problems that never exist in
our climate.......my hat off to those over there.

"Ann" wrote in message
...
"Anne Middleton/Harold Walker" expounded:

Betcha it is of very little use in the USA......an awful lot of UK
advise
is
based on their climatic conditions which do not apply in the
USA........besides many of them "over there" are stick in the muds and
think
not in modern terms.

Anne, have you ever been to England? I went on a horticulatural tour
a few years ago.....those people _garden_. They have pensions for
gardeners. The Chelsea Flower Show is incredible. I don't know what
you mean about 'modern terms', but with regards to gardening, they
definitely know their stuff. And a good gardener learns all about
his/her plants from many sources. The Garden magazine, a publication
of the Royal Horticulatural Society, is an amazing source of
information.

--
Ann, Gardening in zone 6a
Just south of Boston, MA
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