Sunday 26 January 2014

Wisley in Winter

Gunnera manicata put away for the winter.  Wisley Gardens, 3 December 2013.
Gunnera manicata put away for the winter.  Wisley Gardens, 3 December 2013.
Perhaps I should have posted these earlier .. This is the RHS garden at Wisley at the beginning of December, when everything has been put to bed for the winter.   These Gunneras have been made into protective tents.  They grow happily elsewhere without needing this, so perhaps this is in case of an unusually severe winter.

Preparing flowerbeds.  Wisley Gardens, 3 December 2013.
People were working all around the gardens, and some quite extensive areas had been cleared ready for fresh planting.

Cutting down bamboo.  Wisley Gardens, 3 December 2013.
Cutting down bamboo.  Wisley Gardens, 3 December 2013.
These two were putting bamboo into a chipping machine.  No doubt it will grow again next spring.  It is a grass, and that's what grasses do.

Mahonia in flower.  Wisley Gardens, 3 December 2013.
Mahonia in flower.  Wisley Gardens, 3 December 2013.
Some plants were in full bloom; white Magnolias, for example, and these Mahonias, with their sweet-smelling sprays of yellow.  These usually flower in February, but plants local to me were flowering in early December as well.

Pond and trees.  Wisley Gardens, 3 December 2013.
Pond and trees.  Wisley Gardens, 3 December 2013.
It was a gloomy day, but these autumn colours were wonderful.  Wisley has a mixture of garden types, and this informal, yet clearly carefully planned area is something I like a lot.  I was standing part way up a mounded "rock garden" to take this.  In fact I will end with a panorama that was also taken from this mound, and which shows the same pond from almost the same angle. 

Panoramic view including rock garden.  Wisley Gardens, 3 December 2013.
Panoramic view including rock garden.  Wisley Gardens, 3 December 2013.

1 comment:

  1. Your photos prompted me, since I love winter coloring, etc., to go to the Sisley site itself, where I found a comment by someone whom I thought needed some gentle help, so left a comment... Our course, our parks, such as the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, and many more, also reward winter visits, but I think yours are the loveliest, not even surpassed by those of Paris. The tending is beautiful in its own right.

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