A return to RHS Wisley – as October arrives with blue skies and the warm gold of an Indian Summer

Roses, to come, but first a gallery of late-flowering perennials, shrubs and trees bringing a rich diversity and vibrancy to these gardens as October sidles into view. The Gardens at RHS Wisley - the Royal Horticultural Society's flagship garden - never disappoint and even with frequent visits, there is always something new to delight, excite…

Follow me as I tour the gardens at RHS Wisley – grasses and bananas, the Glasshouse (tropics and desert) and dry borders, fruit fields and a fragrant rose garden …

You've walked with me from the entrance at RHS Wisley through to the grass borders, across to the tropical border with towering bananas and cannas and past the dogwood collection (with willows and rubus) which are green green green at the moment but in winter are a forest of ruby, gold, scarlet, black and bone…

Kew Gardens – Early One Morning/Lazing on a Sunday Morning

Kew Gardens once again opens its gates at 8am for Friends of Kew, right through the Summer. I took advantage of this early opening on Sunday before heading over to Petersham Nurseries and really appreciated the cool calm and quiet - there were other folk about but few and far between (it's a big place)…

A banquet-kaleidoscope-smorgasbord-gallimaufry of early Spring colour and scent … (or Where’s Thug?)

Ah, well, you've got me - one huge gallery of images and barely a note to cover the 'who, what, why, where and when' of it all - The 'where'will be at Kew and Wisley and a few points in between, including those deliciously cool crocus on my own front step, delicately rain-dropped and rather…

An early March visit to the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Hampshire – much to admire especially the Hamamelis (Witch Hazel) Collection …

That's it I'm afraid - one large (albeit labelled) gallery - a pictorial tour of the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Hampshire earlier this month (well, a walk around some of it, but most of that put under the camera lens).... The Hamamelis collection I stumbled across was in very fine fettle, the highlight of…

Just a little gallery – Acers through to Woodwardia – a horticultural catch-up of the past couple of colourful, autumnal weeks

  Well, Acers first - from Wisley and Kew, Winkworth Arboretum and here and thereabouts! Followed by the rest of the As through to C ..s .... and moving on through the D E F and a touch of the Gs - there's a whole little gallery of Gentians afterwards - the more colourful elements…

If you go down to the woods today – neon rhododendrons, bluebells, magnolias (still), bergenia, Flamingos and a glorious Staphylea emodi – at RHS Wisley

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…

If you go down to the woods today – Cherry Blossom, Queen Anne’s Lace and Alexanders At Kew – a little video

Blue skies, white clouds, generous pink and white blossom, bronze leaves, long green grass, lime Alexanders, frothy Queen Anne's Lace, sunshine and bluebells (well, one or two, here) - a walk through the last glories of the Cherry Walk at Kew Gardens yesterday afternoon. Birdsong and planes provide the soundtrack...

Teetering before the fall but still beautiful, the Cherry Blossom Empire @kewgardens

The Cherry Walk at Kew Gardens, coming up from the Mediterranean Garden and heading towards the roses and Palm House. A couple of weeks ago, this path was lined with pink and white confections, flurries of blossom in candyfloss shades - but now green is the theme. Yet... There is still rather a lot going…