Lady Waterlow - proving to be an early-flowering variety here too (as it is at Petersham Nurseries) at Kew Gardens and with the distinctive loose form, pale colouring, streaked with darker stains. Just beautiful. Here it is climbing up the brick pillars supporting the long, gently curving wooden pergola in the Family Beds garden at…
Fragrant plants
A new ‘old’ way with Wisteria and a very old Wisteria indeed – more from Kew Gardens
Wisteria floribunda Alba - near to the Duke's Garden within the larger Kew Gardens. We all know that Wisteria can clothe the front of a house with exceptional grace and beauty - and great vigour - elsewhere filling pergolas and arbours with colour and scent (and that reminds me that I am probably too late…
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Almost, nearly there: David Austin’s finest – the promise of a good year for the roses?
This time last year, nothing. Barely a bud, nothing even closely resembling a flower. The month-long Sub-Zero ºC that was March 2013 put back the roses until July. This year, after a mild winter and some early sunshine (and the possibility of a long warm summer), I think it will be a good year for…
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Smellie Pellies Rule, OK!
An unnamed perlargonium in the glasshouse at Petersham - giving me the thought I should check on the scented perlargoniums at home - and maybe add to them? And so, giving the camera a clean this morning and having a look around. Scented Pelargoniums (Smellie Pellies) from the Fibrex stand at the last RHS Spring…
Continue reading ➞ Smellie Pellies Rule, OK!
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The Darling Buds of May – the first Alliums, fragrant Roses, lilac, flashy tulips and buttercup fields –
Alliums and ironwork in the Cutting Garden at Petersham Nurseries - elsewhere the first of the roses coming into flower - so many more in furious bud; I had to wait until July last year for the first roses to bloom - March was so bitterly and consistently chill, day and night, that the whole…
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and the final few from an April afternoon at RHS Wisley…
Violas and wallflowers in a very successful partnership. The viola is Etain, a particularly hardworking plant that will be in flower from spring through to autumn, needing little care other than regular watering and clipping back if it gets too leggy. I shall be copying this next year. Meanwhile, some flamingo pink in the gardens…
Continue reading ➞ and the final few from an April afternoon at RHS Wisley…
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Climbers for every occasion (Part 1: Spring and early Summer)
I'm thinking about climbing plants - for use in a myriad ways in the garden and it is a huge topic. Plants for sun and shade, large and small, with the promise of scent and flower in every month of the year. I think I ought to restrict myself to those gems which are in…
Continue reading ➞ Climbers for every occasion (Part 1: Spring and early Summer)
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Wisteria billowing, Hawthorn blooming, Tulips flourishing – my day in seven photographs
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Hanami – my very own Cherry Blossom Festival in Kew Gardens
A combination of recent warm weather, sunshine, light breezes and little rain combine to make the show of cherry blossom, just yesterday at Kew Gardens, beautiful. Crab-apples and wild pears, Amelanchier and the last of the magnolias were also in flower, but the cherries, by dint of the sheer exuberance of their display, won me…
Continue reading ➞ Hanami – my very own Cherry Blossom Festival in Kew Gardens
The Teddington Gardener 