Wednesday, April 22, 2015

RHS Garden Wisley

This was one of my favourite gardens the first time I visited England.  When Aunt Carolyn suggested we take a garden tour, I was delighted to see that it was included.  As anyone who is lucky enough to live close to a large public/botanical garden knows - everyday you visit, you're going to see something different.  The last time Kevin and I were there, it was at the height of summer.  There were delphiniums - and with me as a human gage at 5'6" or so, you can see how tall these beautiful specimens in the trial gardens were.  Delphiniums don't do as well in this part of Ontario - my mother had no problem in her Pointe Claire garden in Quebec - but here they often live only for a couple of years.


Such a beautiful vegetable:


Look like a real tourist here - the hat, the camera, the backpack, the brochure - never mind, the plant looks spectacular, and that's all that matters!


This time we saw Wisley in its spring glory.  Here's part of the pathway through the woodland section.


And, here's Aunt Carolyn with one of the largest Rhodos I've ever seen.  You'll find large specimens on the east and west coast in Canada, but nothing like that here.  So very beautiful.


It was Iris and Peony blossom time:



Closer to the entrance is a brick-walled garden with so many interesting specimens.  What great shapes and forms these two plants make:


Cool ferns:





And one last shot of Aunt Carolyn with the Wisteria - so very pretty:


The weather at the moment is unpleasant.  They're talking a bit of snow sometime this week.  Am still banging away on residential sales statistics for Kevin's newsletter - all I can say, is that I'll be glad when I'm done. Kevin's computer was limping along so badly yesterday that we broke down and got a new one - it seemed unable to hold information in the "cut" basket in order to put it in the "paste" position - sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, sometimes it almost did.  Not very helpful when you're trying to put together statistics.  Fortunately I double-checked my numbers - had written totals by division on a piece of paper to make sure that everything copied over into Excel.  Alas, no.  Oh well, will start again today with new tools.

If nothing else the discouraging weather makes it a little easier to be tied to my desk rather than being outside in the garden.  It truly is a year when the garden seems to be waiting patiently for my attention.  Thank goodness.

3 comments:

Donna@Gardens Eye View said...

We have some snow and cold here today so time to work on indoor chores too...I have always wanted to visit this garden...

Barbarapc said...

Donna, you would absolutely love it. Wish I could have had a week just to go back each day and wander in another section.

Jennifer said...

How wonderful it must have been to see this garden in springtime. I love the shot of your aunt under what looks to be an ancient rhodie. I also really like the arty shot of the two green plants. What an interesting mix.
Thank God the weather has improved eh? Finally some good gardening weather. How far behind are we? Two weeks maybe, but with these warm days nature is probably catching up quick. Now we need some rain. The garden is parched!