This week we received our first delivery of plants for the new look knot garden.
The planting will be a mixture of herbaceous perennials with summer to late summer flowering of red, yellow and blue – the colours of Bishop Blomfield’s coat of arms. A keen horticulturist, we believe Blomfield planted the knot garden during his residency at the Palace around 1831. It’s an exciting time to get going with a new planting scheme.
On a less optimistic note it’s also this week that brings the Thames Water hose pipe restrictions. Like most gardens, this will affect the grounds at Fulham Palace. Our neighbouring allotments do not rely on hose pipes and they still pump water out from bore holes from the ground – perhaps this something we at Fulham Palace should think about doing?
All is not lost however, as the newly built vinery and restored bothies in the walled garden offer us a plan B. Rain water from the roof of both buildings is cleverly collected into an underground tank that holds 25,000 litres and is currently almost full. We will use this recycled water to keep the plants going. We are all interested to see just how long this supply lasts!