The Royal Horticulture Society Garden Wisley
 When
I was on my last buying trip in June, I had the great pleasure
to visit Hidcote, Chatsworth House, RHS Garden Wisley as well
as several private gardens. Any of these gardens are worthy
of a write-up, but as I have to choose one for now, I choose
Wisley. What a remarkable garden. Just a bit west of London,
this has to be one of the most spectacular gardens in Europe.
 There
were two aspects of Wisley that struck me the most. The first
was the number of different types of gardens within Wisley.
With over 240 acres of gardens, Wisley is huge and it took
almost a day to get through it. And each was so wonderfully
laid out. One of the most spectacular and memorable of these
gardens was the rock garden. It was truly inspiring! Beautifully
laid out on a hillside with paths winding throughout, this
garden was the highlight. Other gardens at Wisley included
the trial gardens where one is able to compare all cultivars
of a particular perennial, annual, or vegetable all in one
location. This years trial gardens included delphiniums, sweet
peas, and day lilies as well as others. Additionally, there
were incredible borders, a woodland garden, a huge shade garden,
water gardens, rose gardens, alpine houses, trough gardens,
and the list just goes on.
The second memorable aspect of Wisley was that almost everything
was clearly labeled. Of course, there is that age old debate
about whether to label or not to label plants in a garden,
but being an intermediate gardener thirsty for information,
I was thrilled to see everything labeled in this public garden.
I learned a tremendous amount.
If you are in England, around London, Wisley is not to be
missed. As usual, I've included pictures to entice you! For
more information on RHS Gardens Wisley, click on the link
below: http://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley/index.asp
 
Click on any of the above pictures for
a better view (it may take a minute to download)
|
