A snapshot from Petersham Nurseries this week ….
Categories: David Austin roses, herbaceous, Petersham Nurseries, Roses • Tags: Cutting Garden, fragrant plants, perennials, Petersham Nurseries, roses, scented plants
A few images from a day at the Nurseries. I’ve been tweeting and instagramming over the past few days and posted a couple of videos too – they’ll be easy to find from the links on my blog – featuring amongst other things, this vibrant Cutting Garden. They will give you an overview of this long flower-filled border, in the heart of the Nurseries and which is the floral heart of the business, providing cut flowers months on end for […]
Categories: Bulbs, Climbing plants, colour, Cutting Garden, David Austin roses, Flowering Cherry, Fragrant plants, General comment, Petersham Nurseries, Roses, spring flowering, Spring Garden, Wisteria • Tags: Acer palmatum Dissectum, Belted Galloway Cattle, Camassia, Clematis Avalanche, Cutting Garden, Euphorbia Baby Charm, Malus Red Setninel, Parrot Tulips, Petersham Nurseries, Rem's Favourite, Richmond Park, Rosa banksiae, roses, Viburnum, Wisteria
A poetic diversion, since the first lines had been running around my head and, down the rabbit hole, the rest had to follow … The Waste Land T S Eliot I. The Burial of the Dead April is the cruellest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain. Winter kept us warm, covering Earth in forgetful snow, feeding A little life with dried tubers. Summer surprised us, coming […]
Categories: Climbing plants, container gardening, Cutting Garden, Dahlias, Fragrant plants, Fruit Trees, herbaceous, macropetala, Ornamental trees, Petersham Nurseries, Seasonal colour, spring flowering, Spring Garden • Tags: Amelanchier, Ballerina, Bergenia, Bridal Crown, Brunnera, Centaurea, Clematis Avalanche, Clematis macropetala, Clematis Markham's Pink, Cutting Garden, Dicentra, French lavender, fritillaria imperialis, Geum, narcissus, Narcissus Peach Swirl, Pear blossom, Petersham Nurseries, Polemonium Brize D'Anjou, Rosie Bines, spring, Spring garden, Thug, Thugthepetershamcat, Tulip Impression, Tulip Rem's Favourite, Tulips
I wrote this (longer) piece for the Petersham Nurseries blog (abridged) and it would be a shame not to recycle it here! “You know that we are passionate about horticulture here at Petersham Nurseries, with new plants coming in every week now and plenty of activity in the gardens and glasshouses. Here are just a few suggestions to keep you horticulturally active, when the weather permits – we’ve had rain and hard frosts, dull grey days and bright beautiful blue […]
Categories: Architectural Plants, Bulbs, Cutting Garden, Evergreen shrubs, Fragrant plants, General comment, Hellebore, House plants, Indoor gardening, Petersham Nurseries, Plants for a shady garden?, Pruning, Seasonal colour, Snowdrops (Galanthus), spring flowering, Spring Garden, White Garden, Winter Garden, Woodland Garden • Tags: Cutting Garden, floristry, Glasshouse, Petersham Nurseries, Spring garden, Winter garden
Firstly a few from home this evening – I’m particularly pleased with the lilies in the front garden, wafting their intoxicating fragrance for weeks now – and the bright blue Campanula Blue Octopus, flowering for over a month. Then (below) more from my day at Petersham Nurseries. Plenty of colour as we move into midsummer with many plants that will carry on to become High Summer glories … I’m rocking on Day and Night Nurse at the moment with a […]
Categories: General comment • Tags: Acanthus, Achillea, Agapanthus Northern Star, Agastache, Allium sphaerocephalum, alliums, Alphonse, Ammi visnagi, Anemone WIld Swan, Astilbe, Babylon Dahlia, Begonia China Curl, Bergamot, Bishop of Llandaff, Campanula Blue Octopus, Catanache, Climbers, Cobaea scandens, Coreopsis, Coreopsis Mercury Rising, cosmos, Cosmos atrosanguineus, Cranberry Click Cosmos, crocosmia, Cutting Garden, Dahlia Bishop of Llandaff, David Austin Roses, Diascia Denim, Echinacea, Eglantyne, Filipendula, Fino, Fluffy, Fragrance, Fragrant English Climbers, Fragrant English Roses, fragrant plants, Geranium versicolor, Helichrysum, High Summer, Hosta, Hydrangea, Hydrangea Annabelle, Japanese Anemones, July gap, July green gap, Just Joey, Lady Emma Hamilton, late summer colour, Lavenders, lilies, Lilium lankongense, Lobelia Compton Pink, Loganberry Ice, Lysianthus, Maliope, Melianthus major, Midsummer, Monarda, Munstead Wood, Nasturtiums, Nemesia Berries and Cream, Night Sky Petunia, passiflora, Perlargoiniums, Petersham Nurseries, Pink Annabelle, Platycodon, rambling roses, Rambling Rosie, Regal Lilies, roses, rudbeckia, Salvia, Salvia Amistad, Salvia Love and Wishes, sanguisorba, scent, summer song, sunflowers, Sweet Peas, Tagetes, The Poet's Wife, The Wedgwood Rose, Thunbergia, Vanille Fraise, Verbascum, veronicastrum, Zinnia
Flower therapy, this. From Petersham Nurseries today. To quote from Cabaret – ‘Leave your troubles outside, So- life is disappointing? Forget it! We have no troubles here! Here life is beautiful… ‘ After this you can go back to Brexit/Conservative Leadership/Chilcot Report/Euro 2016/24HourNews/Emails… ‘What good’s permitting some prophet of doom To wipe every smile away Life is a cabaret, old chum So come to the cabaret’
Categories: Architectural Plants, Bedding, Cottage Garden, Cutting Garden, Dahlias, David Austin roses, Fragrant plants, Grasses, herbaceous, Hydrangea, late summer border, Open to the public, Petersham Nurseries, plants for roses, Roses, Seasonal colour, Summer garden, White Garden • Tags: Achillea, Aconitum, Agapanthus, Ammi, Angelonia, Annabelle Lavender, Antirrhinum, Babylon Dahlias, Bishop of Llandaff, Campanula Loddon Anna, Claire Austin, cosmos, Cosmos atrosangioneus, Cottage Garden, Cutting Garden, dahlias, David Austin Roses, Delphiniums, Dianh, dianthus, Diascia, Echinacea, Freanch Beans, James Galway, Lychnis, Matthiola, Olivia Rose Austin, passion flower, Petersham Nurseries, Rambling Rosie, rudbeckia, salvias, sanguisorba, Scabious, Sir John Betjeman, Snapdragon, Sophy's Rose, Spirit of Freedo, Summer Borders, summer colour, summer song, The Alexandra RoseFeverfew, Troillius, White Garden Choices, Wollerton Old Hall
A warm bright day and summer feels like it has arrived at Petersham Nurseries – well honestly it is June already. There are roses everywhere, big fat bright buds and blowsy blooms – and the scents! Old Rose and Spice (even a touch of Old Spice), vanilla and clove, fruit (citrus and peach, mango and melon), Pernod even – a welcome return of many old friends after an absence of nearly half a year. Perennials in leaf and flower, delicious […]
Categories: Cutting Garden, Dahlias, David Austin roses, Fragrant plants, herbaceous, Hydrangea, Petersham Nurseries, Roses, White Garden • Tags: Achllea, Alchemilla mollis, Allium, Aquilegia Ruby Port, Boscobel, Centaurea Jordy, Constance Spry, Creme de Cassis, Cremede, Cutting Garden, David Austin Roses, dianthus, Digitalis, Eden rose, Erigeron karvinskianus, foxgloves, gertrude jekyll, Graham Thomas, Harlow Carr, Hesperis, Hydrangea, Johnson's Blue, Lady Emma Hamilton, Munstead Wood, Nectoscordium, Nemesia, Olivia Rose Austin, Omphaloides Cherry Ingram, Oxalis, Petersham Nurseries, Pierre de Ronsard, Primula viallii, Princess Alexandra of Kent, Reine des Violettes, Salv, Salvia, Salvia Red Trumpets, Scabious, Veilchenblau, Viola, White Barlow, White borage, White Nigella
Another bright and sunny day, breezy at times but absolutely feeling like summer. Starting off this morning in my garden, beneath the horse-chestnut tree now decked with white floral candles, my own tulip displays and then off to Petersham Nurseries. Plants upon plants upon plants everywhere – exactly as it should be. The Cutting Garden at the heart of the nursery is a riot of colour that keeps on giving – twice the number of flowers this week than last […]
Categories: Architectural Plants, Bedding, Bulbs, Climbing plants, Cutting Garden, Dahlias, Fragrant plants, General comment, herbaceous, Orchids, Petersham Nurseries, plants for roses, Propagation, Seasonal colour, spring flowering, Spring Garden, Summer garden • Tags: Camassia, Cutting Garden, Petersham Nurseries, Tulips
A rather large gallery, this, clearly, cataloguing a day at Petersham Nurseries on Saturday – starting with the walk down the lane, past St. Peter’s Church Yard and Petersham Meadows and then into the Nurseries themselves. Plenty of images are from the long Cutting Garden, which at the moment is a symphony of Tulips, Fritillaria persica and F. imperialis, many late Narcissus, tall spikes of Camassias and much much more. The succession of flowering is the thing, providing cut flowers […]
Categories: Architectural Plants, Auricula, Bedding, Bulbs, Climbing plants, Cutting Garden, David Austin roses, herbaceous, Roses, Seasonal colour, Wisteria • Tags: Cutting Garden, Petersham Nurseries
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 nurseries’ floristry needs as well as a seed-bed for inspiration). I was not disappointed. After a day of sunshine and rain, and having watered extensively […]
Categories: Architectural Plants, Bedding, Bulbs, Climbing plants, colour, Cutting Garden, Dahlias, dark foliage plants, David Austin roses, Fragrant plants, herbaceous, Hydrangea, Open to the public, Petersham Nurseries, plants for roses, Roses, Seasonal colour, Seeds, Summer garden • Tags: Agapanthus, Ammi majus, Astilbe, Ballerina, Brother Cadfael, Campanula, Cutting Garden, dahlias, David Austin Roses, Delphinium, Digitalis, Digitalis mertonensis, Eryngium, Foxglove, Gentle Hermione, Geum Cocktail Mix, Golden Celebration, Handel, Hemerocallis, herbaceous plants, Hydrangea Annabelle, Hydrangea Pink Annabelle, Iceberg, Jude the Obscure, Lady Emma Hamilton, Melianthis major, perennial plants, Petersham Nurseries, Petunia, Primula viallii, Salvia, Scepter'd Isle, Schoolgirl, Sunflower, Tanacetum, Wollerton Old Hall
A light dusting of snow in the woods around Ham, though at home in Teddington there was enough for a serious game of snowballs between the children heading to school. (below) The churchyard at St. Peter’s Church by Petersham Nurseries. While the Cutting Garden, while not exactly deep and crisp and even, had a wintery tone. Thug, the Petersham Cat, was rather put out, though I was surprised to see him exploring at all. Novelty value, as we missed out […]
Categories: Architectural Plants, Bedding, Bulbs, container gardening, Cutting Garden, Fragrant plants, General comment, Hellebore, jobs to do in ..., Petersham Nurseries, Winter Garden • Tags: Crocucs Remembrance, crocus, Cutting Garden, Euphorbia Ascot Rainbow, February, Hellebores, muscari, Narcissus Avalanche, Petersham Nurseries, Primroses, Skimmia, snow, the Petersham Cat, Thug, Viola
Galanthus nivalis – nothing common about this common snowdrop There’s snow Up North and temperatures hereabouts are heading back down to near freezing. There was an icy wind gusting around the glasshouses at Petersham this afternoon though a wintry sun made a welcome but unheated appearance between some very driven bouts of rain. To buoy us up on days such as these, there are primroses in all manner of colour’d garb, grape hyacinths and Hyacinths proper, Narcissus (the double and […]
Categories: General comment • Tags: Cutting Garden, Galanthus nivalis, Muscari Big Smile, Petersham Nurseries, Potting Bench, Robin
I am blessed with the scent of this beautiful plant – drifting across the nursery and Siren-like, it calls to me so that I can breathe in more of this delicious fragrance. Sweet, honeyed, hints of lily and jasmine, citrus, intense but not cloying. Fleeting too on the breeze, caught and then lost again. I really really like this plant. Deep green lanceolate leaves, rimmed with a flash of golden – sometimes more – edging. Other forms have a greater […]
Categories: Architectural Plants, container gardening, Evergreen shrubs, Fragrant plants, General comment, Hellebore, Petersham Nurseries, Winter Garden • Tags: Almond blossom, Almond Princess, Almond Trees, Christmas Carol, Cutting Garden, Daphne odora, Daphne odora aureomarginata, Edgeworthia chrystantha, fragrant plants, Hellebore Gold Collection, Maejima, Petersham Nurseries, Primrose, primula, Rebecca, Winter flowering, Winter Gem, winter scented plants
My day has been perfumed by these beautiful hyacinths – I have more at home, so the fragrance surrounds me even now. Heaven. Especially welcome given the chill, steady mizzling which I hope and believe will give way to something brighter, dryer, though colder, tomorrow. I bought more Hyacinth bulbs today, Gypsy Queen, in a mix with Salmon Impression & Peach Blossom Tulips, Cheerfulness Narcissus in there too. Now to find another pot for this Pastel Shades Collection… Late planting, […]
Categories: Bulbs, container gardening, Cutting Garden, Fragrant plants, General comment, Petersham Nurseries • Tags: Bulbs Hyacinths, Cutting Garden, Fragrant Flowers, Petersham Nurseries, Thug
More feline company at the Nursery – very intense stares from this pair – watching with great interest as the Christmas Trees arrived. A Very Green Friday for us then and very glad not be in a scrum at some department store, battling for a 50″ TV… The Cutting Garden meanwhile is settling into winter slumber – lots of activity underground of course with newly planted bulbs – and plenty of exciting plans for Spring 2015…
Categories: Petersham Nurseries • Tags: Cats, Cutting Garden, Petersham Nurseries
The David Austin rose, Constance Spry, here, winding and spiralling around some birch posts forming a substantial wigwam/obelisk in the Cutting Garden at Petersham Nurseries. Looking forward to my rose-themed workshop tomorrow and hoping that the rain will have rained all it can overnight. A little sunshine would be very welcome!
Categories: Autumn garden, David Austin roses, Petersham Nurseries, Pruning, Roses • Tags: Autumn Rose Workshop, Constance Spry, Cutting Garden, David Austin Roses, Petersham Nurseries, roses
The cosmos are still floating around at head height, self-supporting and with ferny-filmy foliage – they have just kept on going and going this season with more to come… Likewise the sunflowers have had a great season, though their flower power is slowing down and much seed is being set. The zinnias, another late season plant that has loved the Indian Summer, are happy, healthy and shiny green with foliage and candy-coloured flowers like this deeper orange (among reds and […]
Categories: Abstract Photography, Autumn garden, Bedding, Cutting Garden, General comment, Petersham Nurseries • Tags: cosmos, Cutting Garden, Petersham Nurseries, Sunflower, the Petersham Cat, Thug, Viola, Zinnia
A lovely warm September day and the sunflowers in the Cutting Garden at Petersham Nurseries were glowing as I left for the day. Towering above the not insubstantial dahlias, cosmos, lavatera, zinnia, verbena bonariensis, remnants of sweet peas and so much more, there are several varieties planted – I picked out two here, a tawny marmalade creation and something more traditional, in a golden yellow. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/5540994/How-to-grow-sunflowers.html How to grow: sunflowers Best sunflower varieties for pots and containers Kate Weinberg Telegraph […]
Categories: Architectural Plants, Flower Shows, late summer border, Petersham Nurseries, Wildlife gardening • Tags: Cutting Garden, helianthus, Petersham Nurseries, Russian Giant, sunflowers, wildlife gardening
A damp day at Petersham but the hardy gardener was undaunted and the plants were looking fine – the Cutting Garden has swelled quite noticeably, just in the week while I was away up North in t’Yorkshire – with more and more dahlias, sunflowers, twining vines, sweet peas, cosmos… A fine time to take some photographs (dewy highlights and good light), but any more weather like this and I might have to invest in some serious underwater camera gear.. Continuing […]
Categories: Clematis, climbing plant, Climbing plants, Cutting Garden, herbaceous, late summer border, Open to the public, Petersham Nurseries, Seasonal colour • Tags: Achillea, Cobaea scandens, Cobaea scandens Alba, Cutting Garden, dahlias, Etoile Violette, Malus John Downie, penstemon, Petersham Nurseries, sunflowers, Sweet Peas
These sunflowers have come on a-pace in the last few weeks, and have put on height and a grand floral display that will continue until the frosts – and beyond – the blackening seedheads will be a structural element to the cutting garden as well as a wildlife food resource as the seeds ripen. Bright yellows, richer tones and marmalade colours are all in evidence. Together with the dahlias, these are an important part of the Cutting Garden at Petersham […]
Categories: Abstract Photograpy, Cutting Garden, late summer border, Petersham Nurseries • Tags: Cutting Garden, helianthus annuus, Petersham Nurseries, Sunflower
A little flower arranging – of the ‘where they fall’ variety, like spillikins, but with the freshest of ingredients. The Cutting Garden at Petersham Nurseries, a floral powerhouse.
Categories: Flower Shows, Petersham Nurseries • Tags: Cutting Garden, flower arranging, Me, Petersham Nurseries
Categories: colour, Cutting Garden, General comment, Petersham Nurseries • Tags: Agapanthus Northern Star, Agapanthus Queen Mum, Campsis radicans, Canna, Cobaea scandens, Crocosmia Lucifer, Cup and Saucer vine, Cutting Garden, David Austin Roses, Eupatorium, Helenium, helianthus, Larkspur, Lathryus odorata, Lavatera, Orange, Petersham Nurseries, Rosa rugosa Alba, rose hips, roses, rudbeckia, Sunflower, Sweet Pea, The Lady Gardener, Viburnum opulus Compactum
↑ 20th February.. ↓ 27th June…. and there is still a way to go… the Babylon dahlias have yet to come fully into their stride, and I will continue to watch with wonder as new plants rise up, planting combinations surprise and delight; this long border will continue to be a productive cutting garden until the first frosts. Watch this space for updates and photographs…
Categories: Fragrant plants, Petersham Nurseries • Tags: Babylon Dahlias, Cutting Garden, Petersham Nurseries
Categories: Flower Shows, Garden Design, General comment, herbaceous, Petersham Nurseries • Tags: Aconitum, Allium, Ammi majus, Borage, cosmos, Cutting Garden, Dahlia, Delphinium, Digitalis, Erigeron Rose Jewel, field poppy, Foxglove, Hot Lips, Nepeta, Papaver rhoeas, Petersham Nurseries, Phlox, Poppy, Salvia, Scabious, Six Hill's Giant, Sweet Pea
Digitalis (Foxgloves) providing some excitement in these displays – as it does in the garden – with more spires and spikes provided by Salvia Caradonna and, just coming into flower, Aconitum napellus in white. Ceanothus (Californian Lilac) adds more blue to the mix, with bright orange bringing the scheme to life – this is Geum Mrs Bradshaw. This is a less likely combination of colours but I think there is something to it – blue/greys coming in from the tufted […]
Categories: Architectural Plants, Clematis, dark foliage plants, General comment, Open to the public, Petersham Nurseries, Seasonal colour • Tags: Acer Bloodgood, Aconitum napellus, Allium, Anthriscus sylvestris, Californian Lilac, Ceanothus, Choisya Royal Lace, Clematis Josephine, cow parsley, Create a Scented Garden, Cutting Garden, Dahlia, Digitalis, Festuca glauca, Foxglove, Geum Mrs Bradshaw, Horses, Lavender Hidcote, Passiflora 'Amethyst', passiflora caerulea, Petersham, Petersham Meadows, Petersham Nurseries, Queen Anne's Lace, Rose Cornelia, Rose Fabvier, Rose Friesland, Rose Glore de Dijon, Rose Lady of Shalott, Rose Old Glory, Rose Viridiflora, Savia Caradonna, Tea House, Verbena bonariensis, Wisteria floribunda alba
