Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
Antique urn with Hellebore Pirouette, Muehlenbeckia and moss.. A new delivery of some very old things! The delicious red-flowering standard camellia is very Alice in Wonderland The cutting border - the bulbs are coming through and I can't wait to see what buried treasure we have here. The border will develop through the year providing…
Continue reading ➞ A little slice of Petersham – and a little announcement
The Japanese Garden at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Beautiful here in mid-winter, with sculpted box, evergreen waves of Liriope muscari, flowering Iris unguicularis, clipped Pachysandra terminalis, Cotoneaster and Callicarpa in berry, a few choice Chaenomeles flowers, beautifully spreading Winter Cherry - Prunus subhirtella Autumnalis, sunshine and raked gravel. http://www.kew.org/heritage/places/japaneselandscape.html
Just photographs for this piece, although I am sure I have written about these invaluable providers of colour (and form) in the winter months on other occasions - most likely with reference to the varied stand of dogwoods, willow and rubus at Wisley - like here, planted to double the enjoyment, reflecting their myriad colours…
Continue reading ➞ Cornus – bright stemmed dogwoods at Kew
A frosty morning with the few roses cocky enough to be flowering all rimed with ice. A little rose garden with climbing rose The Generous Gardener on tall black obelisks, accompanied by a trio of English shrub roses also from David Austin, Gertrude Jekyll, Geoff Hamilton and Winchester Cathedral. The whole scheme is bordered by…
Continue reading ➞ Jack Frost comes calling….
Bright stems of dogwood, willow and ornamental blackberry by the lake in the RHS Gardens at Wisley There was a little doubt whether these gardens would be open today after the storms over night - many gardens have been forced to close today - but hard work on the part of the garden team made…
Continue reading ➞ Christmas Eve at RHS Wisley
We've been here before, the double borders created by Piet Oudolf at Wisley, combining perennials with grasses, wave after wave - and the equally dramatic planting around the lake, concentric arcs of repeated blocks, catching the low autumn sun. The Piet Oudolf Borders pre-date the Glasshouse and are relatively mature now, evolving along their considerable…
Continue reading ➞ Piet Oudolf & Tom Stuart-Smith at Wisley
My Diary.. Busy, busy this week - gardening on Monday and Tuesday despite the poor weather - much clearing of leaves and aerating a very compacted lawn and then a trip to London for the excellent RHS Shades of Autumn show. These pictures are from the show - there have already been slideshows but they…
Continue reading ➞ Diary Notes
Sissinghurst, now owned by the National Trust, the former home and exceptional gardens of Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicholson From 'The Gardens of England and Ireland' by Patrick Taylor The garden at Sissinghurst, famous as it is, has become for many people more an idea, a myth, than reality. Yet to visit the garden (especially when it…
Continue reading ➞ Late summer at Sissinghurst
Helenium Sahin's Early Flowerer in the foreground, Phlox paniculata Otley Choice behind... Now here is a combination that sings (it might even shriek, just a little bit) but late summer colour in the herbaceous border is often strong, nearly always bright and usually planted with contrast in mind. These two long flowering plants are really…
Continue reading ➞ Pink & Orange – Be Brave!
The Teddington Gardener 