Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
The Savill Garden was our first port of call today, an impressive collection of gardens within the larger vision of Windsor Great Park. I wanted to have a look at the rose garden in particular, a swirling design of tapering interlocking beds, the colour of the roses intensifying towards the centre (peaking with Munstead Wood,…
An afternoon wander through the woodland, wetland, water gardens and wildflower meadows at Wakehurst Place, Kew in the Country (and National Trust too, but the parking is only free to Friends of Kew.. a big issue, this...) There is much, much more to see here within the greater parkland and more formal gardens at Wakehurst…
A long walk through the Surrey countryside from Westcott near Dorking, south across woodland and vale to Leith Hill, the highest point in Surrey. A National Trust property now, it has a commanding view across the landscape - and from the top of the tower, you have more altitude than the viewing platform of The…
A perfect wander through the meandering paths on Battleston Hill at Wisley - quiet too (it usually is) giving you the peace and solitude to really appreciate the diverse planting, the understory, shrubs and tall mature trees. The magnolias were until recently the thing here, some real superb specimens, absolute stars, and the hellebores too…
Stachyurus chinensis, a beautiful golden rain next to the House at RHS Wisley, looking across to the Lily Pond, past the King and Queen.. An exceptional specimen this, spicily fragrant and with larger flowers than the common-or-garden variety - there is one Ordinary specimen next to the Stachyurus pictured above that is going over now,…
So much colour exploding in our gardens now that winter is loosening its grip and Spring is given a chance - longer days, some sunshine but still chill nights and cool temperatures yet ... the sap is rising, buds are bursting into leaf and blossom and the woodland floor is a bright mosaic of primroses,…
Continue reading ➞ A kaleidoscope of colour, coming to a garden near you…
The Chokushi-mon and Japanese Landscape at Kew Gardens today Chaenomeles speciosa adding some bright scarlet highlights to the many greens of the Japanese Landscape. Iris unguicularis elsewhere adds bright blue elsewhere in the scheme. Green, however, is the unifying theme. Prunus cerasifera is one of the first trees to come into blossom - you might…
Continue reading ➞ A gander at some star attractions at Kew Gardens today
Hellebores running wild in the woods of Battleston Hill at RHS Wisley. I have an inkling that these are just a little wild, I have never seen any them labelled (and pretty much everything else thereabouts is name-plated). There will be more of them in due course, these are the vanguard of a great swathe…
You are met, as soon as you walk into the gardens at RHS Wisley, by the seductive scent of Sarcococca, the Winter Box, in this case with pure white threadlike flowers on arching stems, set against deep green leaves. It is a fragrance that carries on the wind, a siren-call to the few pollinators out…
The Teddington Gardener 