Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
There seems to be a series developing here. Garden Centres I have known. Some, like Petersham Nurseries are pure fantasy, a theatrical experience where plants dress the stage, along with much else besides. Wych Cross Garden Centre, just south of East Grinstead, has magic too but for different reasons - real passion and a collection…
Continue reading ➞ Roses all the way; a superb specialist rose nursery in Sussex.
I'm going to have a proper look at the Southbank Centre website to try and explain all of this. Horticulturally related, ingenious/make-do ways of growing things and so on, and I do like the wheelie-bin tree planters (which you can adopt) clustered around the brilliant sculpture of Nelson Mandela. And the wheelbarrows full of veg.…
Continue reading ➞ Southbank “Festival of Neighbourhood”
As part of London Open Garden Squares Weekend, the roof garden at the Blue Fin Building (IPC Media) on Southwark Street was opened and provided a real treat, a surprising garden and panoramic views across London.40m/ten storeys up above London's streets, it is a substantial terrace on three sides of this distinctive building, with extensive…
Continue reading ➞ Blue Fin Roof Garden, community gardens, Wren churches and The Temple.
Actually, it is St. Michael's Convent garden, a 4-acre garden attached to the Convent on Ham Common, open today as part of London Open Garden Squares Weekend. It is also just a cycle ride away, which is handy, and not far from The Palm Centre nursery and Ham House (NT but also included within the…
Continue reading ➞ Not just any Convent garden, this is a St. Michael’s Convent garden..
An article from The Telegraph about this coming weekend and the annual Open Garden Squares Weekend. Maybe a little late for entry into 10 Downing Street, but other treats I think... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/open-gardens/10088452/Open-Garden-Squares-weekend-embrace-a-greener-London.html Open Garden Squares Weekend is the London Parks & Gardens Trust's highest profile event and, since 1998, has become a regular fixture in…
Continue reading ➞ London Open Garden Squares Weekend – 8th & 9th June 2013
Paeonia peregrina, on the Rockery slope at RHS Wisley today, basking in warm sunshine (truly). The Byzantine Peony or The Red Peony of Constantinople. Marvellous!An extremely important plant for breeding (the RHS Encyclopedia of Perennials tells me), its unusual combination of pigments being largely responsible for the development of coral-coloured flowers in hybrid peonies. Spreading…
Continue reading ➞ The Red Peony of Constantinople, no less…
A Gertrude Jekyll flower parterre, good trees and a dream-like park. The curving path from the old orchard, now the car park, brings the eighteenth-century mansion into view at an oblique angle between the trees. In its restored state, it is a striking block of red brick and white paintwork, contrasting sharply with the parkland…
Continue reading ➞ Hatchlands Park
The Isabella Plantation is an ornamental woodland garden within Richmond Park and it is ablaze with colour at the moment with rhododendrons, azaleas and bluebells at their very best.Pink and orange, red and white, yellow and blue, yellow and orange, orange and blue, purple and red - hot clashes and cool combinations. Probably the best…
Continue reading ➞ Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy – and Bluebell
Apricot Foxx (pink/peach), Brown Sugar (pink/orange) and La Belle Epoque (brown) are all stunning tulips in this fine display, matched perfectly with Fritillaria imperialis 'Rubra Maxima,' the Crown Imperial and a skirt of Narcissus Suzy (yellow with red centre). A rhythm of large planters along a wide terrace with a daring, close-colour harmony. Another brilliant…
Continue reading ➞ Apricot Foxx, Brown Sugar, La Belle Epoque & Crown Imperials
The Teddington Gardener 