Crowning glory at palace

It was once the home of kings and queens. Now Hampton Court Palace is marking the Golden Jubilee by putting on show a pair of crowns - each 10 feet high and made of flowers.

The four-ton crowns, which are modelled on the one worn by the Queen at her coronation, are to be officially unveiled on Tuesday and will stay up until September.

Rosettes of semperviviums make up the jewels for the crown and band, framed by five arches of yellow alternanthera.

The deputy head gardener, Graham Dillamore, said work had begun on producing the crowns last summer using a technique called carpet bedding.

The flowers are planted around a steel structure and a hi-tech irrigation system has been installed to make sure each of them gets the right amount of water.

The completed crowns were installed this month in the East Front Gardens, in front of the wing of the palace designed by Sir Christopher Wren in the seventeenth century. "It was an incredible amount of work," said Mr Dillamore. "It is basically painting with flowers."

The crowns are on show to the public until September, when they will be taken down as many of the plants in them will have withered.

Later this year the palace will install its first new fountain since the 19th century to mark the Queen's 50 years on the throne.

Other flowers planted in the crowns include sedums and eoniums. Each crown is surrounded by a motto in echiums, God Save The Queen and Long Live the Queen.

Mr Dillamore said: 'We decided last September to celebrate the Jubilee by making these crowns. Work started on making the frames in Plymouth last