RHS Wisley is a garden that we seem to visit far more frequently in winter than in the summer. When ever we go we always comment that we must visit in Spring and Summer as well as the colder months. But as its still January we will have to wait and see if we can manage to take advantage of our membership.
Anyway ignoring our musings, we visited recently.
When you first enter the garden the long pond stretches out before you, although cold the skies were very clear blue.
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| Henry Moore sculpture by the house |
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| Fatsia Polycarpa |
The view back towards the large house, which is home to laboratories and offices. This was extensively remodelled during World War I in a mock Tudor style.
Walking away from the house and there is a small semi formal garden with large trachycarpus fortunei and water features.
Another pond, on a more domestic scale.
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| Fatsia japonica doing its thing! |
The large informal pond works well even in the depths of winter, with dogwoods providing a blast of very striking orange.
Walking into the woods past the swath of seedheads on the Lunaria annua above and we spotted this little fellow hiding in the undergowth.
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| Blechnum chilense |
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| Mark and I.... |
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| The view of the glasshouse, where we spent much of the day in the warmth - which will feature in a follow up post. I love the way this modern glasshouse looks. |
And with a lovely view across the lake we headed home. Hopefully we will be back in the spring!
Gaz
This gardening blog follows our journey as we create our Tropical and Exotic themed garden. We hope you'll enjoy the journey as much as we do. We started our Exotic Garden in 2005 and this site will show its development, as well as our travels, both abroad and within the UK to gardens, nurseries and friends.
Fabulous, I haven't been to Wisley for years. Looking forward to seeing your pictures from the new glasshouse. The dogwoods are indeed striking.. and that bamboo!
ReplyDeleteTheir colours were very striking Jessica, great sources of colour in the garden for winter :)
DeleteHi Gaz, I enjoyed touring RHS Wisley with you guys! I am surprised that is was so well visited even in the winter time, you Brits simply seem to treasure and use your gardens at any time of the year. I hope to see this famous garden one day myself. Maybe at our next trip to England hopefully in spring this year. Warm regards,
ReplyDeleteChristina
There's so much interest there Christina, and the glasshouse does help a lot too :)
DeleteGreat garden! I bet it is really beautiful in person and even more in the spring!!!
ReplyDeleteYou ought to visit it Lisa next time you're in London :)
DeleteSo different from what I'm used to. Can't wait for the next post
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear Gerhard :)
DeleteIt's a wonderful garden. It looks as though there are plenty of visitors, even in winter, but it's not too crowded to interfere with your enjoyment of the place. I liked your shadow photos too!
ReplyDeleteThere's so much interest going on there even in the depths of winter Kris. We might visit again very soon :)
DeleteYou seem to have found enough to occupy you even in the depths of winter. Did you see the butterflies? Am thinking about going to see them so would be interested to know what you thought. Helen
ReplyDeleteThe butterflies weren't there yet when we visited Helen but we're hoping to go back in the next few weeks to see it. On previous years it was very good and added extra interest in the glasshouse although as you can imagine there are more people and children about and there can be queues at times.
DeleteHow beautiful Wisley is, even in winter! The bamboo is stunning! (Bambusoides allgold?) Touring the greenhouse through your lens will be quite a treat!
ReplyDeleteI'm not too sure what the bamboo is Peter, could be Aureosulcata...
DeleteOMG, that bamboo is *electric*! Winter visits are great if you love trees, as you get to see the branch structure so clearly. That last photo is so lovely and says "winter" to me more than any of the others.
ReplyDeleteAmazing colour isn't it Alan? Evergreen and fab culm colours makes this bamboo top choice for winter interest :)
DeleteWonderful! This was one of the places Sean urged me to visit while Andrew and I were there. I wish I would have had time (next time perhaps). That green house is gorgeous, lovely design. Also I'm curious what you know about Mahonia 'Sweet Winter' that indicates it might be a better plant? So far I don't think I've seen it here in the States.
ReplyDeleteHopefully that next time will be soon Loree and yes you must visit it! :) I don't know much about it but a nurseryman mentioned it's a selected form that came out from the Dutch nurseries supplying a lot of the plants in garden centres here. It's more robust apparently but not as delicate looking as Soft Caress.
DeleteThis is what I hope for in the winter garden. More dogwoods is the lesson I take from this. A few ponds wouldn't hurt, but that is probably beyond my scope.
ReplyDeleteA few small ponds perhaps? ;)
DeleteI think it is a poisonous mushroom, anyway scenery in the winter garden is very nice, I like, might similar "Bogor botanical garden" that there a in Indonesia
ReplyDeleteGorgeous light, you had the perfect day for it. One day my Midwinter Fire will make a statement too... Noted down that Chilean fern, looks tough enough for the problem corner in my front garden...
ReplyDeleteWhat odd mushrooms! That bamboo looks so striking with the lower leaves removed.
ReplyDeleteWisley is somewhere that I so want to visit! Just a little far from here ... It looks beautiful - I think the winter months give a particular kind of beauty because you can see the form of the land through the bare trees, which is screened by foliage in the summer.
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