Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
Unexpected sunshine this afternoon at the RHS gardens at Wisley in Surrey. More than a whiff of spring, with plenty of colourful bulbs coming through (the crocus especially), some stunning camellias and the odd rhododendron too. Hellebores are still going strong, the Alpine House as usual, is captivating. Old favourites - Edgworthia chrysantha and the…
Continue reading ➞ Sunshine at RHS Wisley, Surrey (Part I)
Excerpts from the RHS commentary on this early flowering cherry: This small tree packs a punch with beautiful deep-pink saucer flowers profusely borne on bare stems. It is a favourite of our gardeners because it gives a splash of intense colour before the other showy flowering trees such as magnolias... really get going. The ornamental…
Continue reading ➞ Prunus ‘Kursar’
Red maples are famed for their autumn show, with fiery tints and golds, but spring give us something special too by way of quite significant flowers, held against bare stems. This photograph taken last March, the 15th, in the arboretum at RHS Wisley. Acer rubrum Red Sunset is a star and together with October Glory…
Continue reading ➞ Acer rubrum Red Sunset (Franksred)
Citus Lipo, a cross between Citrus limon and Citrus paradisi, growing underneath the skylight in my kitchen (warm, bright but not direct sunlight; it will move into the conservatory later I think, when night-time temperatures improve). And now in full flower, lots of flower. When I brought it home, it shed so many leaves I…
Continue reading ➞ Citrus Lipo – part lemon, part grapefruit
Another strong spring colour (I've already touched upon Berberis darwinii in particular and Forsythia briefly) and this shrub too can be a bit of a forceful character. Quite tenacious, it can thrive where other plants would give up and it suckers quite freely (the looser the soil, the greater the spread). If it does get…
Continue reading ➞ Kerria japonica ‘Pleniflora’
I visited the David Austin nursery in Albrighton at the end of March last year for a garden design course. Obviously designing with roses was the theme, although the principles we covered are pretty much universal. I've studied design as part of my RHS training and this was a great opportunity to meet other rose-lovers,…
Continue reading ➞ Designing with Roses…
Berberis darwinii will be lighting up our gardens in a month or so (this picture taken in the show gardens at Bridgemere Garden World on 2nd April last year) with vigorous, evergreen shrubs smothered in rich orange flowers. Possibly not the easiest display to fit into a town garden (and the shrub grows up to…
Continue reading ➞ Berberis darwinii – a shock of deep orange
Sunshine, shorts and t-shirt on Tuesday; All my thermal gear tomorrow, as temperatures fall to -4C by late afternoon (or not so quite so cold, or colder, or colder a bit later, depending on whichever service you use). Spring not yet, it is.
There is a particular plant I always look out for, on a lower path on Battleston Hill within the RHS Gardens at Wisley and I'm always superbly pleased to see it in flower, starry and bright, with clove-like fragrance. Anticipating the flowers, it is also lovely in bud, on upwardly ascending bare stems: miniature, silky…
Continue reading ➞ Edgworthia chrysantha
The Teddington Gardener 