Dale Chihuly – Glass at Kew Gardens – May 2019

                            A look back to last year when the gardens and glasshouses were once again a home to the glass works by Dale Chihuly. Gone now of course even if the gardens were open, so please don't visit, when we can, expecting…

Kew Gardens – Early One Morning

Rolling back the years, almost exactly four years ago in 2016, to an early morning wander through Kew Gardens. As I was working that Sunday I really must have put on some speed to cover so much from the early 8am opening, heading out by 9.30am to head back down the river to Richmond and…

A return to the gardens of RHS Wisley – a riot of colour and scent (well it will be and most definitely was last year)

Closed still of course, so a look back to a tour I did this time last year. These photos bring it right back into focus, and I can so clearly remember the paths and turns taken. Fresh greens, bright flowers and scent. Enjoy.   Hawthorn, Bluebells, Azaleas and Rhododendrons, flowering Viburnums, a craft fair, tree-trunk…

The Judas tree at Kew – 2015 but every year since – Cercis siliquastrum in the Mediterranean Garden – a real star performance @kewgardens

Well, I think that just about gives you every angle! This remarkable tree, Cercis siliquastrum, also known as the Judas tree, forms part of the Mediterranean Landscape at Kew Gardens and is just about at its best just now. Alone it is both striking and beautiful but contrasting with the yellow, fragrant gorse, the combination…

Dale Chihuly – Glass at Kew Gardens

                            I'll let the photos do the talking for this piece - Dale Chihuly back at Kew Gardens - last visiting in 2006 if memory serves and a welcome return. Several locations across the gardens and I don't think I saw them…

A long-overdue visit to the gardens of RHS Wisley – a riot of colour and scent this early May Day

Hawthorn, Bluebells, Azaleas and Rhododendrons, flowering Viburnums, a craft fair, tree-trunk sculpture, sunshine and fragrance. A fine start to a long-overdue visit to these gardens. Sunshine and a few scattered squalls, sometimes a bit over-bright for good photography, but glad to have made the effort to get out here today. The Craft Fair - huge -…

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)…

Kew Palace, the Queen’s Gardens and a Laburnum-swagged pergola

Bright blue skies, golden Laburnum, lilac-pink Cercis siliquastrum, snowballs of Viburnun opulus, pale blue iris, lavender-grey lilacs and a lot of beautiful greenery. A bee-line today straight over to Kew Palace and the gardens behind - a sunken herbalists garden and a more formal parterre. Around the former, an arched pergola wrapping around three sides…

A walk around, under and through this remarkable tree – the Judas tree, Cercis siliquastrum at Kew – a little video…

A few minutes to explore this remarkable tree, at the nadir of pristine lilac-pink blossom, leaves just pumping up from remarkable miniatures and the undoubted star of the Mediterranean Garden at Kew Gardens today. There was birdsong, but also the planes, so perhaps you might lower the volume on your whatever-it-is-you're-watching-this-on device!