So the other day I'm hanging out with David Howard, who until last July was Prince Charles' head gardener at Highgrove House, HRH's official residence two hours west of London ... No, I'm not trying to drop names here, though this would be a good one to drop. And I wasn't at Highgrove, though I'd love to see those gardens. Actually, David was at Bartram's Garden last week advising the staff on ways to make this wonderful spot more inviting to visitors. People usually say either they never heard of the place, or they don't know where it is, or they DO know where it is - Kingsessing, not a great garden spot - and they don't want to go there. David is a friendly guy, very passionate - as is the prince - about organic gardening principles. (Look for my story on this very soon.) He was taught to garden the conventional way all through his schooling at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh but had been working parttime for three years with Elizabeth Murray, the original secretary for the Soil Association, an influential organic organization in England. "She introduced me to natural principles," he says, which were not in vogue. David wrote his thesis on "The Organic Approach to Plant Cultivation," and it was not well-received by his examiners. His mark: 53 percent. But then he answered an ad to be Charles' head guy at Highgrove and discovered that both of them were thinking the same way. They became horticultural soul mates. Now out on his own as a lecturer, garden designer and consultant, David's views are no longer considered wacky and out of step - "cranky," as he puts it. Nor, at long last, are his former boss'.