Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
An apple a day... 'Tis the season, almost, of mellow fruitfulness and home-grown fruit has to be one of the best rewards for our gardening efforts. If you haven't already made room in your plot for a fruit tree, now is the time to start thinking about what kind of tree, which variety and doing…
Continue reading ➞ Hounslow Wonder and other apples….
Echinacea purpurea Rubinglow and Echinacea purpurea Green Edge Here, at the top of the border near The Mount, it is a battle between the Echinacea Rubinglow and Green Edge, though the balance is far in the favour of plummy purple cultivar. Allium seed heads provide some contrast too. The ground here, as well as being…
Continue reading ➞ Piet Oudolf Borders at RHS Wisley
Though I couldn't find a plant label for this magnificent stand of Heleniums in the Duke's Garden at Kew, it is most likely Sahin's Early Flowerer, with an Award of Garden Merit. Long ray florets are a mixture of yellow and brownish red in irregular streaks and surround a brown centre and it flowers from…
The wisteria blossom is almost over, a brief but intense affair, but before it goes altogether, a look at one last display at the RHS gardens at Wisley, taken a week or so ago. On a sturdy pillar, twin pillars in fact, a glamorous, deeply fragrant display that you can get right up close to…
Continue reading ➞ Brief Encounter
Was it really just Tuesday when the sun shone over Wisley? Rain again today and a noticeable drop in temperature and gusty winds too. I had planned on getting back to Wisley for the RHS Grow your Own Weekend but with it feeling like -5ºC, well I might stay home and read the April edition…
Continue reading ➞ Rain and freezing temperatures return…
Unexpected sunshine, after days of rain, this Tuesday afternoon at the RHS gardens at Wisley in Surrey. Highlights - Camellias of course and notably the huge flowers of Camellia x williamsii Muskoka AGM; the suede undersides (indumentum) to the rounded leaves of of Rhododendron mallotum; flaking bark from Acer griseum and both colour and graphic…
Continue reading ➞ Sunshine at RHS Wisley (Part II)
Unexpected sunshine this afternoon at the RHS gardens at Wisley in Surrey. More than a whiff of spring, with plenty of colourful bulbs coming through (the crocus especially), some stunning camellias and the odd rhododendron too. Hellebores are still going strong, the Alpine House as usual, is captivating. Old favourites - Edgworthia chrysantha and the…
Continue reading ➞ Sunshine at RHS Wisley, Surrey (Part I)
There is a particular plant I always look out for, on a lower path on Battleston Hill within the RHS Gardens at Wisley and I'm always superbly pleased to see it in flower, starry and bright, with clove-like fragrance. Anticipating the flowers, it is also lovely in bud, on upwardly ascending bare stems: miniature, silky…
Continue reading ➞ Edgworthia chrysantha
Almost time for the annual display of crocus - this photograph taken on 2nd March last year (at RHS Wisley). The displays at Kew should be even more extensive, with several hundred thousand new bulbs being added in the last few years. 2010 and 2011 were both pretty dry years and the annual show was…
Continue reading ➞ A display of crocus, RHS Wisley
The Teddington Gardener 