RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018 – the show gardens, the great pavillion, the roses and … well, pretty much everything

From my walk through Chelsea, to the very last moment - a few hours in the company of the world's greatest flower show....

More from Petersham House Open Gardens …

A play with the camera first thing this morning, before the crowds, with a few at the end of the day, with the longer shadows. A cycle in along the river this morning and again on the way home, quite delightful. Hundreds of visitors for the gardens, four hundred? five hundred?, enjoying the double borders…

Petersham House Gardens Open Day …

Just a look, with some duplication perhaps - sorry about that, but technology is tetchy this evening - of the gardens at Petersham House, adjacent to the eponymous Nurseries we know and love.  The gardens are open tomorow, and the lawns will be striped to perfection by the time I take more pictures tomorrow morning…

A few hours at Kew Gardens – the newly re-opened Temperate House, Alliums on the Broadwalk, treetop walkway, the Hive, gorgeous Wisteria, a Rhododendron or three, and laburnum arches, waterlilies, the Davies Alpine House and Rock Garden, peonies galore, many remarkable trees, a Japanese landscape and the Pagoda … and much more-

If a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a million. Kew Gardens today. Amazing, as ever -

Petersham Nurseries: Evolution of a Cutting Garden – 28th April 2018 (in moving pictures too …) plus more tulips and a tour of the garden centre. I’m too good …

Well I must apologise first - shaky camera, dull and overcast, fingers in the frame ... a less than dynamic narration but nevertheless, the subject of this amateur videography is still shining through. The Cutting Garden within Petersham Nurseries has been a floral powerhouse these past few weeks and the cooler weather we have enjoyed…

An East Sussex Odyssey and the jewel in the crown, Great Dixter

Well this time I'll let the pictures do the talking. And I nearly didn't call in this time around to Great Dixter and am so glad I did. I don't recall that I have visited in Spring before (it is a stupendous garden in late summer and autumn) and I did attend one of Fergus…

The RHS Spring Show – London

Just a few bits and bobs from the Spring Plant Fair this past Friday, twinned as it was with the spectacular Orchid Show in the adjacent Hall. Some rather fine succulents and cactus, air plants aplenty and beautiful primroses. And a little tour of London town, as I made my way back through Westminster to…

Kew Gardens by way of Siberia … The Hive, Alpine House (naturally), a deserted Broadwalk, frigid (but pruned) Rose Garden, a short-back-and-sides to the Grass Borders and a remarkable tree or two –

Don't let all that Thailand stuff lull you into a false sense of security, warmth and vibrant-colourful-duvetness ... outside it is Arctic. The crump-crump of snow beneath your boots and the beautiful architecture of trees picked out in white. A lot to admire but even so, bloomin' cold so it was a quick trot back…

A birthday treat to myself – a day trip to Thailand …

While the Beast from the East continues to freeze and snow lies deep and crisp and even on the ground, I thought today would be a good day to find warmer climes - by way of the Princess of Wales Conservatory at Kew - and explore the floral delights of Thailand. Their annual orchid extravaganza…