A few days …. all manner of early autumn – should I say late summer despite the current chill Bank Holiday weekend ahead? – herbaceous-ness, roses, dahlias, sunflower, more herbaceous perennials, heuchera and Solenostemon (finishing up with Crinkly Bottom….). 2015 here we come …

  Once more wandering through the archives of garden-visiting, photography and plant inspecting - at RHS Wisley right at the beginning of September in 2015 (four days hence and five years back). These gardens are not entirely the same now, in design, layout and content (what garden is?) but suspect that many of the plants…

Hydrangeas and nothing but Hydrangeas ….

What a lot of Hydrangeas - from a variety of destinations including RHS Wisley and the Savill Garden near Windsor. Probably a few from Golden Hill Nurseries down on the south coast who are specialists in this beautiful plant - definitely worth seeking out their expert knowledge at any future plant fair or flower show.…

Kew Gardens – a look back in anticipation of looking forward to a visit soon …

  A look back to a visit in early August 2018 when the Pagoda was reopening after a refurbishment and the installation of the dragons. If you want a look inside the pagoda, or a look at the landscape from its heights, you can use tags or search functions. The gardens are open again after…

Waterperry Gardens

    Another unapologetic walk down memory lane, this day in 2018, to the remarkable Waterperry Gardens. A joy on so many levels. I was at the HTA National Plant Show at Stoneleigh Park near Coventry yesterday, a tedious journey up and down the M40, especially back but I did make a grateful stop at…

Stylish late – late summer containers

I hosted a workshop a few weeks ago now, at Petersham Nurseries, with the title of 'Stylish late-summer containers. I promised the guests that I would create some notes and have been very tardy I doing so. I hope to remedy this here, jotting down a few of the points we covered, and details of…

Winter Containers

Stylish winter containers with ideas and examples from Petersham Nurseries; colour, texture, fragrance contrast and harmony for outdoor planting combinations

A late-September taste of the gardens at RHS Wisley

A mid-week, late morning, late September tour of the RHS Gardens at Wisley. Blue skies peppered liberally with white clouds (today was a brighter, warmer clearer-skies day than yesterday, but probably overbright for my photographic skills so here we are ...) It is still quite definitely late summer, rather than full-on Autumn. Very few of…

Pink

  Pink, by far the biggest gallery with more photos to choose from than with the others, orange, yellow, blue and white. All images taken in 2015, though concentrating on the summer and through until September. I had to stop somewhere. Hellebores early on, and a little Cherry blossom, though i could have majored on…

Yellow

  From the palest blush, soft cool primrose, sulphurous, acid, gaudy, bright, golden, and adorning the garden right the way through the year - this is a richly diverse palette and can be used to many an effect. I've been reading Gertrude Jekyll's book on colour schemes in the flower garden and she is extraordinarily…