Waterperry Gardens

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 the wonderful Waterperry Gardens near Oxford. Formerly Miss Havergal's School of Horticulture for Ladies (who trained the Land Girls and much more...) these…

Cottage Gardens

Phyllis Bide – the perfect rambling rose for a cottage garden – informal flowers in a muddle of apricot and cream – and not a monster either, like Kiftsgate or Wedding Day… The Story cover photo is from the Welcome to Yorkshire Garden at RHS Chelsea this year. Proof if it were needed of the…

Petersham Open Garden 2018 – all the pictures!

Ten gardens, ten private passions, ten stories - all on show for Petersham Open Gardens, an event every two years where private gardens showcase their beauty and skills (and skulls in some gardens), for charitable purposes. And given the footfall today, the charity-benefitting coffers will be full to overflowing. Congratulations folk, one and all. I…

How much can you cram into one small front garden … more than you would think, I think ..

Well, there are two standard Munstead Wood Roses, one standard Rose Ballerina, another standard Lady Emma Hamilton, oh and Desdemona, another standard - shrub roses Vanessa Bell and The Poet's Wife, a half barrel of Erigeron karvinskianus, a pot of Campanula Pink Octopus, Alliums (Mont Blanc maybe), three large pots of Pelargoniums (zonal, ivy-leaved, scented…

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…

In the Garden Shop & Cutting Garden at Petersham Nurseries …

Tender, tropical houseplants inside the Garden Shop and elsewhere, early perennials, bulbs, flowering shrubs and spring colour. A few, random, images from Petersham Nurseries last week. We've had glorious sunshine (well, yesterday at least), so expecting the Cutting Garden to be even more verdant, more colourful and probably about a foot taller too. We're about…

Camellias, mostly – a beautifully colourful tour through the woodland landscapes at RHS Wisley

Such a beautifully sunny, warm and fragrant afternoon at RHS Wisley. Crowds upon crowds filling the car parks but amongst the meandering paths of Battleston Hill, just a few folk pottering through the woodland paths, admiring the camellias. An amazingly colourful display pretty much at their peak, or just a little over, filling the wooded…

Getting Horticultural for the month ahead … and a little tour of Petersham Nurseries

I wrote this (longer) piece for the Petersham Nurseries blog (abridged) and it would be a shame not to recycle it here! "You know that we are passionate about horticulture here at Petersham Nurseries, with new plants coming in every week now and plenty of activity in the gardens and glasshouses. Here are just a…