Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
A look back but unusually for me, a new post and not robbing the back catalogue. October this year, so autumn rather than frigid winter (here in the UK it's Arctic Blast all the way). But having visited Hauser & Wirth and making tentative forays into putting energy into these pages, well this was as…
Continue reading ➞ Hauser & Wirth, Somerset (October 2022)
A free afternoon (washing done, a trip to Sainsbury's to follow) and a quick drive out to the RHS gardens at Wisley - blue skies and sunshine, alas not continuing into the weekend - but so much to see as I wandered past the lake to the Glasshouse Borders and South African Meadow, up through…
Continue reading ➞ Back to the UK – a little tour of RHS Wisley. A real taste of Autumn
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…
I had the time to visit the gardens at RHS Wisley on Wednesday this week, the sunniest of days and quiet too (everybody else was at the work, or the supermarket, or on the M25... ) The colour and fragrance on offer was unexpectedly generous, with Camellias and Rhododendrons, Witch Hazel, Chimonathus and Edgworthia, Hellebores…
The Glasshouse Borders at RHS Wisley There is much to recommend these borders - the long double beds running down from the Fruit Mount to the Lake and running in concentric, linking arcs around the reflecting mirror of water and bounding the Glasshouse. Add a clear sky and low slanting sun, at the end of…
Continue reading ➞ Luxuriating in decay – the Glasshouse Borders at RHS Wisley
Helenium The Bishop, with Eupatorium Purple Bush - one part of the matrix of planting, mixing perennials, grasses and some shrubbery, in the double border leading up from the Lake through to the Fruit Mount. Introduction from the RHS website https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley/garden-highlights/the-glasshouse/Glasshouse-Borders Drift through foliage and flowers along the Glasshouse Borders as you enjoy glorious views…
If you are designing a garden for all four seasons, and you consider your options for Winter, there are plenty of plants that will add that necessary spark of life, colour and scent - but allow for some plants to die, gently decaying and giving up their bones. These hydrangea heads have been left uncut…
Continue reading ➞ A little more death and decay, please…
We've been here before, the double borders created by Piet Oudolf at Wisley, combining perennials with grasses, wave after wave - and the equally dramatic planting around the lake, concentric arcs of repeated blocks, catching the low autumn sun. The Piet Oudolf Borders pre-date the Glasshouse and are relatively mature now, evolving along their considerable…
Continue reading ➞ Piet Oudolf & Tom Stuart-Smith at Wisley
Piet Oudolf Borders at RHS Wisley Much that one can say about prairie style planting and especially the combination of grasses with late season perennials, is that the show doesn't stop when the blooms die and the rot sets in - add low, slanting sun, a stiff breeze for animation and later, frost and snow…
Continue reading ➞ Live and let die…
The Teddington Gardener 