Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
Tropical rainforest in the Princess of Wales Conservatory at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Well, it was so hot and humid outside and I had finished one job nearby, and there was a parking space just by Victoria Gate (as if by magic). Had to pop in! Hot and humid inside too but a complete change…
Continue reading ➞ If you can’t stand the heat….
Meconopsis betonicifolia - Himalayan Blue Poppy A few blue poppies in the woodland margins at Kew, something seen out of the corner of my eye, deserving closer inspection (I was on the hunt for peony and rose). Meconopsis have a reputation for being difficult, in warmer latitudes especially - the various species grow best in…
Continue reading ➞ Himalayan Blue Poppy
An architectural digest of some of the houses, and gardens, on Kew Green. I missed Open Gardens there a little while ago, so losing out on the opportunity of seeing the back gardens, which promise much. Next year then.
I'm hoping that by looking at lots of pictures of auriculas, that I won't need to go out and buy these beautiful and dramatic little beauties. And the more I find them in glasshouses (at Wisley, Kew, Harlow Carr), the more I hope to believe that they are temperamental creatures, needing all the mod-cons that…
Continue reading ➞ Primula auricula Gordon Douglas
More bluebells you might think, but nearing this muted haze, you realise they are much, much taller, a massed planting of something different, flower-heads matched in height by umbels of cow parsley. Camassias. Now I see the point of these plants! One part of a walk through the various landscapes at the Royal Botanic Gardens…
Continue reading ➞ Moody blues…
Bluebell time at Kew.
It’s cherry blossom season. Here’s a poem called "Loveliest of Trees" by A. E. Housman (1859 – 1936). The poem is about cherry blossoms, the quickness of life, and how now is the time to appreciate what’s around you. "Loveliest of Trees" LOVELIEST of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough,…
Continue reading ➞ The loveliest of trees
One of the most extraordinary flowering trees, with pea-like blossom, hugger-mugger on bare stems, on the previous year's wood and main branches. This specimen in the heart of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, in the Mediterranean landscape, the purple of the Judas tree contrasted with the golden-yellow of the Cistus x purpureus. Inversely heart…
Continue reading ➞ Judas tree – Cercis siliquastrum
The Teddington Gardener 