A little Kew Miscellany – everything else from a chill Tuesday in January (or Heraldic Beasts and where to find them)

Just mopping up with the remainder of the photographs taken last week when I headed off to Kew Gardens, warmed up in the Princess of Wales Conservatory and then joined the 'Meet the Experts' tour talking all things Snowdrop. A random selection though I wish you could take in the delicious fragrance from the Chimonanthus…

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…

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),…

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…

A Cutting Garden with Tulips in abundance, Fritillaries both imperial & persica, the first Roses, Hawthorn, Camellias, still, cherry blossom, still, spicy Wisteria, chartreuse Euphorbia, a country churchyard and an old deer park – plus a cow or two … tales from Petersham Nurseries

A few images from a day at the Nurseries. I've been tweeting and instagramming over the past few days and posted a couple of videos too - they'll be easy to find from the links on my blog - featuring amongst other things, this vibrant Cutting Garden. They will give you an overview of this…

April is the cruellest month ….

  A poetic diversion, since the first lines had been running around my head and, down the rabbit hole, the rest had to follow ... The Waste Land T S Eliot I. The Burial of the Dead                 April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring…

A Kew Gardens Miscellany – the Roses (some flower, lots of hips), a glide through the Davies Alpine House and of course, some autumn leafery (see the Ginkgos) …

An unexpected bit of free time today and lo! A parking space by the Victoria Gate which meant I had to stop - and (first things first) smell the roses. Gertrude Jekyll, Stanwell Perpetual and Madame Isaac Pereire brought High Summer right back on a mostly overcast mid-November day. Soul food. From the Rose Garden,…

A round up of the week so far – mist over the Thames, oak-leaved Hydrangeas, Chillis, Lilies, Vines viniferous and Cup-and-Saucered, Dahlias of course ….

A few days at Petersham Nurseries this week and with it, a cycle ride across Teddington Lock in the morning sunshine, ahead of days enjoying a rather fine Indian Summer as Autumn slides into technicolor view - with mist rising from the River Thames and adding a little mystery to Ham Fields While the cycle…

An Afternoon at RHS Wisley – the Double Herbaceous Borders, Cottage and Jubilee Rose Gardens, a touch of woodland and more …

The spectacle of the Double Herbaceous Borders at RHS Wisley at the height of summer! I definitely have Border Envy though I appreciate how much work goes into this long-lasting display. Such healthy happy plants too. The Country Garden, pictured below is no less of an extravaganza but the effect in many parts is of…