A little peak inside the Alpine House which sits atop the Rock Garden in the RHS gardens at Wisley (the rose garden is behind, an allée of Bonsai trees to one side and the vegetable garden too, if you need to get your bearings. This is a traditional glasshouse where the plants are mostly displayed…
Architectural Plants
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered – by these colourful, beguilingly fragrant Witch Hazels at RHS Wisley
A fine day yesterday, after that miserably wet weekend but still, having a day off, a chance to head over to the RHS gardens at Wisley. My mission: to stop by the Alpine House, take in a few snowdrops, inhale my first fragrant dose of Daphne bholua, bag the first of the Hellebores and of…
Hellebored? Not me ….
Flowers to brighten these chill darker days are an invaluable commodity in the garden, and few are more welcome nor so colourful as the Hellebore. There is the myriad variety of colours and flower forms of the Lenten Rose (Hellebore hybridus), bold architectural foliage and flower of the Corsican Hellebore (H. argutifolius), and Christmas rose hybrids…
Looking for a January Getaway? A tropical holiday? Try Kew Gardens
A dull day, yesterday, with a chill wind and a fine mist of rain oftentimes so it was glorious to spend a little time inside the Princess of Wales Conservatory in Kew Gardens - plenty of humidity and generously warm temperatures and what a collection of plants in the tropical section here - orchids…
Continue reading ➞ Looking for a January Getaway? A tropical holiday? Try Kew Gardens
RHS Wisley – blue skies and sunshine illuminate this beautiful late-November landscape
Such a beautiful day, yesterday, 24th November, under a bright blue clear sky and welcome sunshine. Chill but quite beautiful. I'd never seen the car parks so full - in fact I was directed over a mile down the lane towards the village before heading cross-country into previously unseen fields before making the trek back…
The Salvia Border at Kew Gardens – a plant family that just keeps on giving
The Salvia Border at Kew is a wonder now. Hardly worth a look in mid-summer (though you can, then, find the plant labels, a job which is nigh on impossible now the growth is so generous - hence these are images only with no naming of names, this time at least) - but now, my…
Continue reading ➞ The Salvia Border at Kew Gardens – a plant family that just keeps on giving
Take a walk with me through Kew Gardens – Part 1 – Magnificent Trees, The Hive
My first visit in ages to Kew it seems, certainly I haven't kept up the mini-incursions where I would rush in to see one thing or another - just the Alpine House, or the Paeonies, or the raft of Camassias, the flowering cherries, or the roses, each taken in within a hurried hour (or two),…
Continue reading ➞ Take a walk with me through Kew Gardens – Part 1 – Magnificent Trees, The Hive
Kew in the Country – an early Autumn tour of Wakehurst Place
Quite the contrast from the sunshine and blue skies enjoyed just yesterday. Cool, cloudy, a little drizzle and everybody kitted out as if they were about to take on a winters' trek through the Lake District. Still, October it is and Autumn is beginning to tickle the trees in this vast and varied landscape and…
Continue reading ➞ Kew in the Country – an early Autumn tour of Wakehurst Place
Back to the UK – a little tour of RHS Wisley. A real taste of Autumn
A free afternoon (washing done, a trip to Sainsbury's to follow) and a quick drive out to the RHS gardens at Wisley - blue skies and sunshine, alas not continuing into the weekend - but so much to see as I wandered past the lake to the Glasshouse Borders and South African Meadow, up through…
Continue reading ➞ Back to the UK – a little tour of RHS Wisley. A real taste of Autumn









