It’s all going Vincent van Gogh – Sunflowers on trial at RHS Wisley

More from the Trial Fields at RHS Wisley, time-travelling back five years but a sight that still sticks in the memory. Such variety in height, flower size, colour, texture and bringing out the child in every one of us who ever grew them and watched them tower above us with delight. So, 2015 it is…

Winter Containers

Stylish winter containers with ideas and examples from Petersham Nurseries; colour, texture, fragrance contrast and harmony for outdoor planting combinations

Winter Border Workshop at Petersham Nurseries

I have a workshop this week where we will delve into turning our gardens, in the chill months ahead, into winter borders filled with interesting plants, colours and textures. Anchor plants with attractive foliage, the tracery and silhouettes of seedheads and dried stems and flower heads, and ornamental fruit, evergreen shrubs with scented flowers for…

On Home Ground – a little peak at Petersham Nurseries

The Garden Shop at Petersham Nurseries is filled with houseplants, whose homes hail from all over the world, together with seeds and tools, pots and gardening equipment and in the blessed rain yesterday, was my home for the day. In the rare moments between torrents, I had a wander through the rest of the nursery…

Hampton Court Flower Show Part Four – more gardens … more nurseries … just more!

Cottage Gardens

Phyllis Bide – the perfect rambling rose for a cottage garden – informal flowers in a muddle of apricot and cream – and not a monster either, like Kiftsgate or Wedding Day… The Story cover photo is from the Welcome to Yorkshire Garden at RHS Chelsea this year. Proof if it were needed of the…

Back to the UK – a little tour of RHS Wisley. A real taste of Autumn

A free afternoon (washing done, a trip to Sainsbury's to follow) and a quick drive out to the RHS gardens at Wisley - blue skies and sunshine, alas not continuing into the weekend - but so much to see as I wandered past the lake to the Glasshouse Borders and South African Meadow, up through…

Walk with me through the woodland landscapes at RHS Wisley – a fragrant, colourful tour for these unexpectedly mild days …

I had the time to visit the gardens at RHS Wisley on Wednesday this week, the sunniest of days and quiet too (everybody else was at the work, or the supermarket, or on the M25... ) The colour and fragrance on offer was unexpectedly generous, with Camellias and Rhododendrons, Witch Hazel, Chimonathus and Edgworthia, Hellebores…

Dodging the showers for a kaleidoscope of flower and fruit – roses, camellias, hellebores, hollies, decorative leaf, bark and seedheads

The roses too continue to put on a good show, with some near perfect blooms - and other joys - I'm hoping the rain will stop so I can get in an afew hours in my  own garden this afternoon - there are dahlias to lift and a venerable banana to wrap up before the…