Green Girl Gardener

This week’s Six comes courtesy of RHS Wisley. I was finally able to go and stay with my mum last weekend now that lockdown restrictions allow overnight stays outside of your household, so last Friday I trundled down to Hampshire with much excitement. O

On the Saturday, I’d requested a trip to Wisley, having never been before, and there we also met my aunt, uncle and cousins and their families. A very special day being the first time I’d seen them all in a very long time, and, in fact, in the case of my oldest cousin’s baby and youngest cousin’s partner, the first time I’d met them at all! We were really lucky that the weather behaved and was glorious all day.

Before the troops arrived, mum and I wandered around the tree section of the gardens. It was nice to see some more unusual trees, and it’s from here that my first point comes.

I completely forgot to take a photo of the label so I can’t tell you exactly what this is, but it’s some sort of pine. If you would care to zoom in on the photo, you’ll see that it looks like it’s made of hundreds of palm trees.

The next thing to catch my eye as we strolled round the pond, was this rhododendron.

It’s hard to see without much for perspective in the photo, but it was huge! At least ten feet tall I would guesstimate. Such a cheerful pop of colour as you exited the predominantly green tree section.

As we continued, we came across the shady garden and we wandered around looking for ideas for the dry and shady part of my garden. There must’ve been some sunny areas because I snapped a pic of this beautiful peony.

We have peonies in our front garden which gets direct sunshine for a good proportion of the day, however ours are herbaceous peonies and this was a tree peony. Ours are late this year because of the cold April and May but they’re about the burst open any. minute. now! I think tree peonies can cope with less sun than herbaceous, but not the complete absence of sun that our shady patch receives.

The next two pictures are from the glasshouse. Phew, it was hot in there. Perfect for the exotic, tropical plants that reside under its glass roof, but not so good for us humans, especially not when you still have to wear a mask inside! Still, it was worth it to see the unusual plants from far flung lands.

The first is a succulent called Setosa Minor.

A relatively standard, non descript succulent looking at its leaves, but just look at the gorgeous flaming flowers. Stunning!

Next up is plumeria Pele Firestorm that was always going to catch my eye given my propensity for grasses and grass-like plants.

Just beautiful. I’d love one of these in my garden but it likes it hot hot hot which here, unfortunately, it isn’t! I can’t even have one indoors, because it would inevitably suffer from feline chewage!

Finally we strolled out of the glasshouse, via the ice cream van, and took in the rest of the gardens. My final point is this lovely fluffy specimen.

This is Pulsatilla Vulgaris. A most unfortunate name, although, apparently vulgaris means common and not, as it sounds, vulgar. It has purple flowers, but I think these seed heads (I assume that’s what they are) are just delightful.

So there you have it, a round up of my day at Wisley. I could’ve taken millions of photos, but I preferred to just soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the plants without looking at them through a screen. With that in mind, I shall finish here and step away from the screen for now. All that remains, is point you, as ever, in the direction of the Propagator, and wish you a very pleasant weekend.