Teddington Gardener Review of the Year – July 2014 – Petersham Nurseries, Luton Hoo, Wrest Park, Hampton Court Flower Show, RHS Wisley, Mayfield Lavender and Great Dixter. Blooming Marvellous!

Petersham Nurseries, Luton Hoo, Wrest Park, Hampton Court and also the Flower Show there, a Study Day at Great Dixter with Fergus Garrett, my own projects, Mayfield Lavender and naturally, RHS Wisley. One from Farnborough Air Show too!

Teddington Gardener Review of the Year – June 2014 – Roses, Petersham Nurseries, A Birthday Party, Mottisfont Abbey, Kew Gardens and Climbing the Pagoda, Waterperry Gardens. Glorious Summer.

Petersham Nurseries and a 10th Birthday Party, Roses everywhere including Mottisfont Abbey and Waterperry Gardens, climbing the Pagoda at Kew Gardens, a Twickenham Wild Flower Meadow and some of my own projects. Once again, a glorious month!

Teddington Gardener Review of the Year – May 2014 – Kew Gardens, Composting, Auriculas, the first Roses, Wild Food Foraging, Chelsea Fringe and Chelsea Flower Show, Petersham Nurseries. Intimations of Summer.

Roses, amazingly early, appreciating the mild winter and warm, early Spring. Kew Gardens, Auriculas, Paeonies, Chelsea Fringe and a brief call in at the Chelsea Flower Show, more roses, much at Petersham Nurseries, Wild Food foraging with Claudio Bincoletto, the Joy of Composting... another glorious month!

Overcast all day, some rain but with some bright sparks and highlights… fiery Spirea, white/grey/yellow combinations, tall bamboos and a TARDIS-like van, new roses, a cutting garden update

Fire and gold tints throughout this display - from an unexpected source - Spirea nipponica Snowmound is better known for its smothering of white blossom on arching stems in June and July but this vigorous shrub is putting on a spectacular finish, teamed with spires of Molinea grasses, fountains of green Liriope muscari, berries of…

If you were expecting more Autumnal fireworks, wait in line – in Kew Gardens, the roses continue to shine….

The Rose Garden at Kew today - I was expecting a delicious crop of hips amongst otherwise bedraggled roses, in the garden behind the Palm House at Kew Gardens this afternoon. I called in more to capture some of the arboreal autumnal fireworks from the likes of the Sweet Gum, Liquidamber styraciflua, the gorgeous Cotinus…

Autumn Rose Care….

The David Austin rose, Constance Spry, here, winding and spiralling around some birch posts forming a substantial wigwam/obelisk in the Cutting Garden at Petersham Nurseries. Looking forward to my rose-themed workshop tomorrow and hoping that the rain will have rained all it can overnight. A little sunshine would be very welcome!

Rose Heaven – The New Season at Petersham Nurseries

    La Belle Sultane Rosa Mundi Kazanlik Honorine de Brabant Madame Isaac Pereire Souvenir de la Malmaison Variegata di Bologna Blanc double de Coubert Hansa Peach Grootendorst Rosa rugosa Alba Schneezwerg Emporeur du Maroc Ferdinand Pichard Hugh Dickson Reine des Violettes Nur Mahal Bengal Beauty Cramoisi Superieur Louis XIV Perle D'Or Gruss an Aachen…

A new bed of roses…

All ready for a new planting of roses - Iceberg all - later this autumn. The bed is a little shaded both by the aspect and the overhanging ornamental cherry tree and the client is a fan of the near-perpetually blooming floribunda. If it is good enough for the American Ambassador's residence in Regent's park…

and a few more roses – the glorious Bowes-Lyon rose gardens at RHS Wisley

A new rose variety to me, The Charlatan, in the Bowes-Lyon rose garden at RHS Wisley this afternoon - and immediately a favourite! Blush pink single blooms opening from deeper pink pointed buds. A central crown of golden & red stamens, very like Jacqueline du Pre, lifts an already attractive flower to greater beauty. Here…