Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
The double herbaceous borders at RHS Wisley are worthy of close attention and admiration. Individual plants are to be appreciated for the well-grown specimens they are, and combinations of plants can delight and surprise as the eye bounces along each long, deep border before the grassy runway ascends Battleston Hill with all the delights that…
Continue reading ➞ Tour de force – a tour around RHS Wisley – first up, the Herbaceous Borders
A chance remark and the right alignment of dates and here we are, wandering through these remarkable gardens created in the midst of a wooded valley, bisected by a tributary of the River Lune, a showcase for the imagination and talent of garden designer Arabella Lennox Boyd. Up North, in the village of Caton outside…
David Austin roses would seem to have the most extensive, comprehensive and probably expensive rose breeding program of any rose nursery in the world (I may be biased but it likely to be true!). After making between fifty thousand and sixty thousand crosses each year - one rose with another and more complicated crosses from…
Continue reading ➞ Time Travel: The Trial Beds at David Austin Roses – A glimpse of the future…
The Long Garden, Lion Garden, Victorian Garden and The Renaissance Gardens at David Austin's home ground at Albrighton in Shropshire. The site is home to these magnificent 2-acre gardens, the extensive plant centre, shop and restaurant as well as the business-end of things, the breeding glasshouses and trial beds, the production nursery for all of…
Some rather lovely Show Gardens, an immense Floral Marquee and more than a few, very beautiful roses with their very own Festival. A warm and balmy evening, plenty of people but no crowding at all - this you can see in these photos. All this and fireworks.... amazing! The show has its full day on…
I arrived at Petersham Nurseries 45 minutes earlier than necessary with a view to taking a few pictures - and I am a speedy photographer - so here is a little gallery of plants that are both conveniently for sale or at home in the Cutting Garden (a practical resource for so much of the…
Take a 6m by 6m space, add a rustic chestnut pergola, a wildflower meadow, fragrant roses, annuals, perennials and grasses, herbs, climbers ramblers and vines, tree ferns and a little bedding in there too - the whole contents of a cutting garden with plants for sun and shade but everything speaking of June; an Indian…
Continue reading ➞ Petersham Nurseries at the recent Grow London Garden Fair – a little video
This long pergola with brick pillars and timber beams is clothed with some beautifully trained rambling and climbing roses. Beautiful monsters like Rosa filipes Kiftsgate ought to swamp the entire structure and much else besides but with the love and careful treatment these specimens are given, a multitude of flowers hug the cross beams and…
The Water Lily House at Kew Gardens was hot, humid and full of treasure yesterday - a mix of the most delicately coloured water lilies - Nymphaea - and also some with the brightest and richest jewel colours. Bold leaves and bold variegation too - set against black, still water reflecting the Victorian architecture of…
Continue reading ➞ The Water Lily House at Kew Gardens – a treasure house
The Teddington Gardener 