A few days …. all manner of early autumn – should I say late summer despite the current chill Bank Holiday weekend ahead? – herbaceous-ness, roses, dahlias, sunflower, more herbaceous perennials, heuchera and Solenostemon (finishing up with Crinkly Bottom….). 2015 here we come …

  Once more wandering through the archives of garden-visiting, photography and plant inspecting - at RHS Wisley right at the beginning of September in 2015 (four days hence and five years back). These gardens are not entirely the same now, in design, layout and content (what garden is?) but suspect that many of the plants…

A Kew Gardens Miscellany – the Roses (some flower, lots of hips), a glide through the Davies Alpine House and of course, some autumn leafery (see the Ginkgos) …

An unexpected bit of free time today and lo! A parking space by the Victoria Gate which meant I had to stop - and (first things first) smell the roses. Gertrude Jekyll, Stanwell Perpetual and Madame Isaac Pereire brought High Summer right back on a mostly overcast mid-November day. Soul food. From the Rose Garden,…

A few things that caught my eye today – Petersham Nurseries – flower therapy and a quote from Cabaret, what more do you need?

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…

I’m singing in the rain/ Just singing in the rain/ What a glorious feelin’ I’m happy again/ I’m laughing at clouds/ So dark up above/ The sun’s in my heart/ And I’m ready for … roses, dahlias, beautiful perennials

Enough rain today to satisfy Dr Foster, on his way to Gloucester - but here at Petersham, it made some rather beautiful plants even more beautiful - roses of course, the first of the dahlias (and my apologies for not noting their names - next time I'll look at the Cutting  Garden Plan), and a…

A busy day at Petersham Nurseries – hundreds of new roses from David Austin… (Advertorial Alert!!)

A busy day at Petersham Nurseries, collecting a generous delivery of roses from David Austin - more standard roses including Desdemona, Tranquility and Olivia Rose Austin - large specimen shrubs and large specimen climbers plus a whole host of shrubs, climbers, ramblers (and repeat flowering ramblers at that) to keep us happy for a week…

Roses all the way – a veritable photographic encyclopedia of these beauties … (Part One)

Between the rain showers yesterday, a tour around the two rose gardens at RHS Wisley - these are all from the first, the Jubilee Rose Garden, which features roses planted among roses and more roses (no herbaceous planting here, not allowed at all). The next gallery will feature the planting in the Bowes Lyon Rose…

Dodging the showers for a kaleidoscope of flower and fruit – roses, camellias, hellebores, hollies, decorative leaf, bark and seedheads

The roses too continue to put on a good show, with some near perfect blooms - and other joys - I'm hoping the rain will stop so I can get in an afew hours in my  own garden this afternoon - there are dahlias to lift and a venerable banana to wrap up before the…

A few days …. all manner of early autumn herbaceous-ness, roses, dahlias, sunflower, more herbaceous perennials, heuchera and Solenostemon (finishing up with Crinkly Bottom….)

a little late summer turning to autumn herbaceousness for your delight and delectation.... It has been a few days since my last blog entry and I have been busy working, gardening and photographing. A new camera has already improved the picture offering I think, with more natural and realistic colours. With file sizes between 10MG…

Roses at Kew Gardens – Wild Roses, Old Roses, English Roses. A Grand Start and so much more to come…

and the new 2015/16 Handbook of Roses, which I picked up at the first RHS London Rose Show today... and a duck, at Kew Gardens, to round things off!! The Rose Garden at Kew Gardens today - with a lot of roses popping but still much, much, much more to come - a fine selection…