RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2018 – the show gardens, the great pavillion, the roses and … well, pretty much everything

From my walk through Chelsea, to the very last moment - a few hours in the company of the world's greatest flower show....

More from Petersham House Open Gardens …

A play with the camera first thing this morning, before the crowds, with a few at the end of the day, with the longer shadows. A cycle in along the river this morning and again on the way home, quite delightful. Hundreds of visitors for the gardens, four hundred? five hundred?, enjoying the double borders…

A few hours at Kew Gardens – the newly re-opened Temperate House, Alliums on the Broadwalk, treetop walkway, the Hive, gorgeous Wisteria, a Rhododendron or three, and laburnum arches, waterlilies, the Davies Alpine House and Rock Garden, peonies galore, many remarkable trees, a Japanese landscape and the Pagoda … and much more-

If a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a million. Kew Gardens today. Amazing, as ever -

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered – by these colourful, beguilingly fragrant Witch Hazels at RHS Wisley

A fine day yesterday, after that miserably wet weekend but still, having a day off, a chance to head over to the RHS gardens at Wisley. My mission: to stop by the Alpine House, take in a few snowdrops, inhale my first fragrant dose of Daphne bholua, bag the first of the Hellebores and of…

RHS Wisley – blue skies and sunshine illuminate this beautiful late-November landscape

Such a beautiful day, yesterday, 24th November, under a bright blue clear sky and welcome sunshine. Chill but quite beautiful. I'd never seen the car parks so full - in fact I was directed over a mile down the lane towards the village before heading cross-country into previously unseen fields before making the trek back…

Kew in the Country – an early Autumn tour of Wakehurst Place

Quite the contrast from the sunshine and blue skies enjoyed just yesterday. Cool, cloudy, a little drizzle and everybody kitted out as if they were about to take on a winters' trek through the Lake District. Still, October it is and Autumn is beginning to tickle the trees in this vast and varied landscape and…

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…

A return visit and a more leisurely tour of RHS Wisley

A return visit to the gardens at RHS Wisley, in the brightest of sunshine, to take a more leisurely walk than I had time for last week - and to stroll through the orchards, Glasshouse borders and seven acre wood. Hugely busy as you might expect on the eve of a Bank Holiday weekend but…

A view from Kew – a blossomtastic Spring morning in these Royally Botanic Gardens

It certainly pays to make an early start, especially on such a bright and beautiful morning - and even more so when school holidays are upon us and Kew Gardens becomes a beautiful flower-filled playground and a great spot for a family picnic. For someone as bah-humbug as I about having unpopulated pictures - flowers…