Kew Gardens – a taste of Autumn in late October

A beautiful cycle ride along the towpath from Teddington Lock, past Petersham Meadows, Richmond and on towards Kew, with Syon House on the opposite bank. 12km enjoying the start of autumn. Clocks back this weekend, and the coldest October day in 10 years, so hats, gloves and scarves were the order of the day. Isleworth,…

Spring-flowering bulbs for the Garden – many galleries and my notes for a Workshop …

I've a workshop planned this week as part of the School of Garden Inspiration syllabus at Petersham Nurseries. The subject is bulb planting in the garden, and more specifically, Spring-flowering bulbs that are available now for planting in the coming weeks and months. Some practical information and hopefully, some inspiration along the way. Without doubt,…

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…

Purple

May I refer you to Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple Sometimes more blue, or lilac, lavender, rose, red, but a not pure blue, or pink depending on which is closest, a varied palette - cool, rich, and elegant tones.  Thug, the Petersham Cat, rounding up proceedings. I rest my case ...

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…

Blue

OK, so there is a touch of rose-making-the-blue-purple going on here too though I have weeded out the more obvious not-blues, but the theme, from palest to the boldest, with some blue-grey foliage too, is a cool blue palette. Fruit, leaf and flower all contribute and I refer you once again to Gertrude Jekyll. In…

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…

Orange

A little orange on a dull, wet day. Bring  back the sunshine ... In the meantime, this

Floating Flowers …. almost igniting this huge bronze bowl at Petersham Nurseries (a new institution!)

We have really enjoyed floating all manner of seasonal flowers in this wide, shallow and beautifully scrolled bronze bowl, which we began in February. Then it was a huge brass urn from the Bank of Rome (it was one of a pair, one since sold, the other, available...) but we swapped to the lower, pedestal-less…