A return to the gardens of RHS Wisley – a riot of colour and scent (well it will be and most definitely was last year)

Closed still of course, so a look back to a tour I did this time last year. These photos bring it right back into focus, and I can so clearly remember the paths and turns taken. Fresh greens, bright flowers and scent. Enjoy.   Hawthorn, Bluebells, Azaleas and Rhododendrons, flowering Viburnums, a craft fair, tree-trunk…

Nymans, pure Romance …

  Lockdown continues and these gardens, as are all, are closed to the public and so it is back to the archives and this collection of photographs from early May last year. I've brought it forward as the Wisteria has really taken to the warm days we have enjoyed this past few weeks and is…

Colour on a dull day, just not today: A banquet-kaleidoscope-smorgasbord-gallimaufry of early Spring colour and scent … (or Where’s Thug?)

  Another look through the Teddington Gardener Archives, mid-March 2016, and as the title says, a jumble of images, woodland and glasshouse, Wisley and Kew and a welcome reminder of Thug, the Petersham Cat, still missed.   Ah, well, you've got me - one huge gallery of images and barely a note to cover the…

Magnolias – A grand display at Kew, 2015 …. @kewgardens #springatkew #magnoliawatch

Magnolia campbellii (above and below)   A repost from March 2015, with another one to follow, featuring the magnificent Magnolias in Kew Gardens. Sadly, but understandably, the gardens are closed at the moment, so these will be blooming just for the pleasure of it and not an admiring public. Magnolias then, enjoy ... A chill…

A long-overdue visit to the gardens of RHS Wisley – a riot of colour and scent this early May Day

Hawthorn, Bluebells, Azaleas and Rhododendrons, flowering Viburnums, a craft fair, tree-trunk sculpture, sunshine and fragrance. A fine start to a long-overdue visit to these gardens. Sunshine and a few scattered squalls, sometimes a bit over-bright for good photography, but glad to have made the effort to get out here today. The Craft Fair - huge -…

April is the cruellest month ….

  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…

Getting Horticultural for the month ahead … and a little tour of Petersham Nurseries

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…

A few things that caught my eye – lots and lots of Acers and a kaleidoscopic ‘A to V’ (not quite Z) of both herbaceous and shrubbery loveliness …

Some rather gorgeous Acers here, just plumping up for the season ahead with much colour and fine forms to admire. A collection that absolutely caught my eye along with the next little selection ... an Anchusa to Viburnum alphabet of nearly-summer beauties -

Rounding up a bright, colourful and fragrant tour of Wisley (did I mention the rain?)

A perfect stranger but just in the right place, for just enough time for me to shift around for the best angle and click! (Well, lots of clicks in a very short amount of time but I like this one the most). Framed by the flowering Cherries at the top of the Rock Garden at…