RHS Wisley April 2016 « Cumnor Gardening Club

RHS Wisley April 2016

On Thursday 14th April, 35 members of Cumnor Gardening Club visited RHS Wisley Garden in Surrey. The gardens were looking wonderful even though we have had a very mild wet winter followed by a prolonged cold spell in March. The magnolias and early camellias were coming into flower in the woodland area of Battleston Hill with plenty of hellebores and wood anemones still blooming. We saw flowering cherry trees in the Country Garden – a fleeting moment but always welcome at the beginning of spring.

Throughout the garden there were colourful borders of daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and other spring bedding plants planted in great profusion. As a contrast in the wild garden the snake’s head fritillaries which have naturalised in the damp areas were flowering in great numbers.

In the Bicentenary Tropical Glasshouse the orchid display was particularly worth visiting – seeing them growing in ideal conditions is always impressive. When the club last visited Wisley the greenhouse had been newly opened and it was very interesting to see the more mature planting.

There is so much we can learn from the expertise of professional RHS gardeners but the scale of Wisley could make it difficult to transfer the ideas to our own gardens. However the area of model gardens designed to show how we can make an interesting garden in a domestic space was full of visitors gaining inspiration.

In contrast to the profusion of spring flowers in other parts of the garden it was peaceful to wander round the Pinetum which is mostly planted with conifer trees including some champion trees and where the National Heather Collection is growing – some of the winter flowering varieties were still going strong.

Even the weather was kind to us with a mild sunny day and the rain showers kept away.

RHS Wisley is a wonderful garden which is worth a visit any time of the year.