Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
An afternoon wander through the woodland, wetland, water gardens and wildflower meadows at Wakehurst Place, Kew in the Country (and National Trust too, but the parking is only free to Friends of Kew.. a big issue, this...) There is much, much more to see here within the greater parkland and more formal gardens at Wakehurst…
This last was labelled Paeonia suffruticosa, no more, and is magnificent. Loved as much as me by the iridescent beetle that was in an ecstasy of pollen in the centre of each blossom. Leaving behind this garden and passing by the emerging grass borders, the Davies Alpine House and the Princess of Wales Conservatory beckon.…
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…
Continue reading ➞ Kew Palace, the Queen’s Gardens and a Laburnum-swagged pergola
Above - the lipstick pink of Paeonia Honor, with an unnamed white form, below Below - Paeonia officinalis subsp. officinalis Above and below - Paeonia rockii subsp. atrava Above, Paeonia clusii Above - Paeonia officinalis subsq. officinalis against Iris Red Zinger (also below) Two unnamed Iris Below - actually tinted more lilac in reality, and…
Continue reading ➞ Iris and Peony at Kew Gardens – positively glowing on a damp Thursday afternoon
A jaunt around the Duke's Garden at Kew - the Arum Lilies in the last entry are to be found here, in some shade and immensely happy. As indeed are all the herbaceous plantings here. I remember the searing quality of the Hemerocallis Burning Daylight - brighter even than the Geums here and in great…
Continue reading ➞ Delighting in the Duke’s Garden at Kew
I saw these huge aquilegias at a garden centre yesterday - Virginia and Vermont - rather beautiful but prefer my Blue Barlows... A busy day yesterday, working in two of my gardens in Strawberry Hill. The first, occupied by further planting out in the newly created front garden borders and new container displays. In traditional…
Iris rosenbachiana - from Russian Central Asia Iris planifolia (above) from the Mediterranean Iris bakeriana - Turkey, Iran, Iraq From Israel and Jordan, Iris regis-uzziae The Davies Alpine House at Kew - home to so many miniature wonders, including these iris, hardly taller than their labels and perfect little works or art - beautiful.
Blue Bearded Iris at Newby Hall, Yorkshire Newby Hall, Yorkshire - a substantial double herbaceous border punctuated with these glorious iris, the name of which I either neglected to note - or was not marked - or I didn't bother to look if it was (so much to photograph...) I think the colour has been…
The Teddington Gardener 