Month: November 2018
RHS Wisley – life and death in the Surrey hills… Hydrangeas, Camellias and Hellebores, mostly, Sorbus and Malus, Cornus, Salix and Rubus, Acer, Rhododendron, Chimonathus, Henry Moore and a Squirrel
Acer griseum, lauded for its peeling bark, caught here in the chill morning sunlight on the slopes of Battleston Hill at the RHS gardens at Wisley. The gardens feature the remnants of many fine plants, dying beautifully, hydrangeas foremost in this class, as well as the heralds of a new season, with the earliest hellebores and camellias adding vibrant colour to the landscape.
A fine stand of Hydrangea paniculata Vanille Fraise – photographed in full colour earlier in the year and still forming a significant presence in the winter garden.
Some species maintain their bulk, substantial elements in the gardens still – others give up almost everything, a fine tracery of veins all that remains –
Work in the big herbaceous borders, you can see the bulk of the hydrangeas on the slopes in the distance
Bare stems and bone white, but by no means bleak – Rubus biflorus has…
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My first look at RHS Wisley (this year) – Colourful winter stems, Alpine and Glasshouse finery and more…
I’m fortunate that the vast array of garden landscapes at RHS Wisley in Surrey are a short drive from Teddington HQ and that I can be as frequent a visitor as I am, without ever, ever being bored – there is always something, whatever the season, to delight and inspire.
This unseasonably mild weather (about to properly hit the skids with a decidedly chilly weekend to come) has meant that the Daphne, Camellia, Rhododendron and Witch Hazel have been a colourful and in their turn fragrant feature for several weeks and with this in mind, on this first visit of 2016, steered away from Seven Acre Woods and the meandering paths of Battleston Hill that I traversed just before Christmas.
A bright clear afternoon meant that the temperatures were already heading south, and so after enjoying the colourful twiggery by the lake, took to the Alpine House for a bejewelled…
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Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire
A first visit to this extraordinary 200 acre garden – and a random gallery of photographs to be getting along with…
More information at www3.hants.gov.uk/hilliergardens/hillier-gardens.htm
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Kew Gardens starts the year with both colour and scent. @kewgardens – nothing dull here…
Coloured dogwoods, Cornus – Midwinter Fire, C. sanguinea Alba and Flavermimea – a perfect position to catch late afternoon sun and reflect in the waters
The Temple of Aeolus with dogwoods reflected in the lake
The Museum with a changing program of displays
The Palm House backlit by the late but not warm (oh no!) afternoon sun
Chinese Guardian Lions
and the Museum reflected in the lake, late afternoon sun
Winter Box, Sarcococca, heavily fragrant by the Victoria Gate complex.
Cyclamen coum beneath Malus Sentinel
An unnamed Camellia (else the label is buried among the foliage)
Amazingly, my first Daffodils on the Mount
Hamamelis x intermedia Pallida
Witch Hazel Pallida
A whole lot of mulching going on in the Woodland
Sinofranchetia chinensis – will have to look this one up
Disporum cantoniense – a small bush at the head of the Rockery
Meanwhile, in the Davies Alpine House
The Grass…
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Teddington Gardener Review of the Year – January 2014 – at Wisley and Kew. Winter breaks early.
JANUARY – Hamamelis x intermedia Orange Peel
Cornus alba Sibirica in container displays at Wisley
Rhododendron nobleanum Album
Prunus himalaica
Hydrangea paniculata
Galanthus elwesii
Sarcococca confusa
Dogwoods at Kew and the Alpine House from the Grass Borders
Galanthus elwesii at Kew and Berberis (below)
Chimonathus praecox Grandiflorus
Prunus subhirtella Autumnalis and Chaenomeles speciosa at the Chokushi-mon at Kew
Sorbus glabrescens
Rosa californica hips
Symphoricarpus orbiculatos and Viburnum opulus Xanthocarpum
Hellebore
Betula utilis var. jacquemontii
Malus x robusta
Viburnum x bodnantense
Acacia dealbata Gauloise Astier
Battleston Hill, Wisley
Edgwortha chrysantha
Daphne bholua Peter Smithers
Repeat visits to both RHS Wisley and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in January 2014. Few miles travelled but a lot of the world covered in the plants at their very best this month.
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A Winter Gallery for your delight and delectation …
More from my Twitter account and once again, just the pictures to look at. It’s late and there’s another busy day tomorrow …..
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Hellebores for a New Year
Anna’s Red
Ice N Roses Red
Sally’s Shell
Anna’s Red
A picture gallery – well there are going to be a few of them, cataloguing my visit to the gardens at RHS Wisley yesterday morning. Proof, if it were needed, that these are not the dullest, least colourful or interesting times in the garden. In fact I couldn’t say when those times might actually be. With these Hellebores and the Hamamelis to come, coupled with a tour of the Alpine House and Orchids in the Glasshouse, it is a veritable riot of colour and fragrance.
True, it is a time too of contemplation and planning, of mental preparation for the year ahead. Of reading those books that have piled high on the nightstand. And remember (as I did not so much last year) to plan in enough time to see those gardens which, in their season, will stir your horticultural…
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If you go down to the woods today (reprise) – Scented Witch Hazels, Daphne & Sarcococca, Edgeworthia too at RHS Wisley
You are met, as soon as you walk into the gardens at RHS Wisley, by the seductive scent of Sarcococca, the Winter Box, in this case with pure white threadlike flowers on arching stems, set against deep green leaves. It is a fragrance that carries on the wind, a siren-call to the few pollinators out there. I’m captivated too and there are many specimens and many varieties throughout the shadier glades of Battleston Hill, my destination this afternoon.
Hellebore Walburton’s Rosemary is planted in a great swathe on a raised bed also by the entrance to the gardens and it is a perfect way to display these nodding flowers – deep soil, dappled shade and the flowers presented at an accessible height – no crouching to peer, upside down, at the treasures shyly hiding their faces and watching the leaf litter.
The lower slopes of Battleston Hill, with deciduous tree…
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The Teddington Gardener 