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Sally Nex

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Sally Nex

Tag Archives: RHS Wisley

Cosmos at Wisley

27 Saturday Aug 2016

Posted by sallynex in new plants

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

AGM, cosmos, Fleuroselect, flower trials, RHS Wisley

IMG_4091
The trials fields, at the back of Battleston Hill at RHS Wisley in Surrey, are easy to miss. You have to turn your back on the temptations of double herbaceous borders, rose gardens and the rest and walk over a socking great big hill to put yourself through a battering from thundering traffic noise from the A3 just the other side of the hedge. But it’s actually the most important bit of the whole garden.

That’s because this is the principal place where the RHS does its trials (they also run trials at other locations, like Brogdale in Kent and other RHS gardens just to see how plants perform in different climatic conditions).

Long beds are planted with dozens of different varieties of one particular genus: on the day I visited the trials included hibiscus, rosemary, petunias, beetroot and strawberries (and those are only the ones I can remember).

It is rare that you get to see multiple varieties of the same type of plant alongside each other, so you can compare and contrast, and perhaps decide which ones you might like in your own garden. Even better, if you wait till the trials report (they’re published on the RHS website at the end of each trial) you’ll find out how your chosen varieties perform, too. If they get an AGM you know you’re on to a winner.

One of the most eyecatching displays this year is the bed of Cosmos, in full spectacular flower on my visit and looking just glorious. It is – who knew? – the Year of the Cosmos, according to ornamental plant industry people Fleuroselect anyway. It’s as good an excuse as any to explore what this surprisingly diverse group of plants can do – and to get a sneak peek of the new varieties coming soon to a seed merchant’s near you. Here are a few which caught my eye:
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‘Casanova Red’ 3ft tall and delightful with three tones of flower on one plant
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C. sulphureus ‘Cosmic Red’ I had no idea cosmos come in orange, too. C. sulphureus produces smaller flowers (about 2″ across) than the more familiar C. bipinnatus but there are loads of them.
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‘Cosimo Red-White’ Quite short, at 2 1/2 ft, and very dainty with small, almost wild-looking flowers over sparse foliage: wouldn’t look out of place in an annual meadow
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‘Xanthos’ This is, I believe, already on the market and I’ll be buying it next year: lovely palest lemon flowers opening deeper primrose
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‘Carioca’ Beautiful clear orange over lush foliage, about 3ft tall
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‘Double Click Rose Bonbon’ Already a favourite of mine, only confirmed by seeing it en masse alongside other cosmos. I like the variability of the flowers, with some fully double, others semi-double and others (like this one) hardly double at all
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‘Cupcakes White’ A new shape of cosmos flower on the way with petals fused to make a large bowl-shaped bloom on a tall (5ft) plant. Not sure whether it’ll catch on: it loses some of the daintiness of a regular cosmos.
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‘Pied Piper Red’ And another curiosity: this time quilled petals. I like the two-tone effect from the inner and outer petals, but it’s not as elegant as a single.
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C. sulphureus ‘Tango’ Retina-searing shade of orange with quite small flowers but loads of them. Medium-sized plant, to about 4ft.

Of very small things

13 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by sallynex in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

floral art, flower arranging, miniatures, RHS Wisley, Wisley, Wisley Flower Show

I’ve mentioned my talented friend Pattie before on this blog: she’s a floral artist of the most patient and dedicated kind, and I am regularly rendered speechless by her extraordinary creations.

Here’s her latest.

She’s something of a specialist in miniatures, compositions made entirely from plant material but measuring no more than 10cm in any direction.

It was for the annual NAFAS competition at the Wisley Flower Show, this year moved out of the rather gloomy tent it’s usually in, to take up a much sunnier spot in the Bicentenary Glasshouse.

The theme for this year’s miniatures was ‘Just Perfick’. Which, I think, it is. Luckily the judges thought so too and gave it first prize.

The level of detail is just astounding: as you can see, it’s a little picnic scene with bowls of berry ‘apples’ and a basket of buns made from pearl barley kernels delicately painted red along the crease.

Here’s the second prize winner, by Rachel Sherwin: I can’t work out what the ‘apples’ are on this one (there’s one on the tree and a couple on the little chair underneath). They’re seedpods of some description, but nothing I recognise: these artists are geniuses at seeing miniature shapes in things you or I would just pop in a seed packet and forget about.

And third prize: perhaps a more straightforward arrangement from Anne Blunt, but nonetheless exquisitely pretty for all that. Those little blossoms so artfully arranged on the twig look just like a Japanese cherry in springtime. In fact now I come to think of it, there’s more than an echo of Japanese tradition in these delicate little creations.

If you’re one of the many people who scuttle past the floral art tent at flower shows on the way to something more obviously gardening-related, do stop next time and take a look, if only just for these little jewels. They’re like nothing else you’ll ever see.

Wisley Flower Show in pictures

07 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by sallynex in Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

RHS Wisley, traffic jams, Wisley, Wisley Flower Show

Glorious sunshine beckons this weekend for the Wisley Flower Show: for my money, one of the very best small shows there is.

I popped by for the first day on Thursday and accidentally discovered the way to ‘do’ the show with minimal discomfort. As regulars will know there’s a killer of a traffic jam right down the A3 and on to the M25 which builds up gradually until by mid-morning you’re waiting well over an hour to get to the front gate.

Because I had a ridiculously over-committed day which involved collecting £200 of wood from a sawmill, visiting Wisley Flower Show and hacking the 2 1/2 hour drive back to Somerset, all by lunchtime, I turned up on the dot of 9am when the show opens. What a revelation.

I swept regally in without so much as a hesitation and was politely waved to my place in Car Park No 1 (right by the entrance) by a small phalanx of attendants. I strolled through the garden, almost alone bar feverishly lawnmowing gardeners, and had the whole show very nearly to myself for the first half-hour.

By the time I was ready to leave it was only 11am and the queues were well on the way back to Junction 9. Once again, I swept out, waving (slightly sadistically) at all the sweating punters on the other side of the A3 still waiting to get in. You couldn’t help but feel a bit smug.

Anyway: if you get the chance to go this weekend, don’t miss it. Here are a few of the many delights you’ll enjoy.
 


Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora ‘Emily Mackenzie’, Leonotis leonurus and Astilbe x chinensis taquetii ‘Superba’ in joyous union on the Best in Show stand by Madrona Nursery

Flower of the show was definitely Rudbeckia laciniata ‘Herbstonne’: it was everywhere, about 7ft tall and supremely elegant. Probably my favourite of all the rudbeckias and superb in big, in-yer-face planting schemes

Solanum quitoense, a gorgeous sultry big purple leaf with the dew still frosting its upper surfaces, from tropical woodland in central America – one of an extraordinary and inspiring display of exotics from Plantbase Nursery

Aralia cordata flowers catching the sunlight on the Edulis Nursery stand

I rather liked the funky pink frames used to set off the plants on Bean Place Nursery’s stand

Dichroa februga, an evergreen hydrangea relative (The Botanic Nursery)

An intriguing heather from Trewidden: don’t you just love the way the stems carry on up out of those huge blowsy flowers? It’s Erica verticillata – and 70s and boring it ain’t

And last but not least: one for all you heuchera lovers out there. Heuchera ‘Sashay’ from Heucheraholics had the most gorgeous ruched leaves with just the right touch of purple petticoat showing. Exquisite.

Wordless Wednesday: Wisley butterflies

22 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by sallynex in wordless wednesday

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

RHS Wisley

(you can still see these for yourself: Butterflies in the Glasshouse at RHS Wisley, Surrey, continues until 26 February)

Butterflies at Wisley 2010

04 Thursday Feb 2010

Posted by sallynex in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

RHS Wisley

Not quite as many to see this year as it’s been so cold – we’re planning to return in a few weeks when it’s a bit milder – but still enough for some magical moments.

Wordless Wednesday

03 Wednesday Feb 2010

Posted by sallynex in wordless wednesday

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

pavonia, RHS Wisley


Pavonia x gledhillii
as seen in the glasshouse at RHS Wisley

The smallest garden in the world

10 Thursday Sep 2009

Posted by sallynex in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

flower arranging, NAFAS, RHS Wisley


It’s a rock garden, an overhanging cliff crusted with lichen shading a little pool with a yellow waterlily. It measures 10cm x 10cm (and no more than 10cm high).


Viewed from the other side, and you can see a few flowers cling on in the cracks, while elegant ferns waft in the breeze (that may be white paper underneath… or a particularly pale beach?)


Oh, all right then, you’ve probably guessed already. This is miniature flower arranging, done on an infinitesimally tiny scale: every piece is dried and preserved in silica before being stuck, one at a time, on the sculpture. Not one is more than a few millimetres long. Everything you see is of plant origin: those ‘bulrushes’ are individual stamens, while the yellow flowers are made from the tiny central blossoms picked out of euphorbia bracts. The ‘rock’ is a piece of bark, and there are more tiny specks from Bupleurum and other things I couldn’t even recognise.


Actually I’ve been sitting on these pictures for a few weeks, as this miniature is a work in progress due to go on display tomorrow at the Wisley Flower Show as part of the new NAFAS flower-arranging exhibit. Since staging has now started, there’s no risk of any dastardly stealing of ideas – apparently flower arranging is a cut-throat sport and much skulduggery goes on behind the scenes. So I can now publish, and to hell with the consequences.

Don’t worry, I was no more than a very admiring bystander: the artist is Pattie Hendrie, the very talented daughter of Mrs M, whose garden I look after and which I have raved about occasionally here before.

Good luck Pattie – I’ll be there and rooting for you!

Butterflies at Wisley

02 Monday Feb 2009

Posted by sallynex in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

glasshouse, RHS Wisley

It’s snowing (again) outside as I write, but I’m still basking in the glow of a day spent in the toasty warm glasshouse at Wisley. It wasn’t just any old day, either: they’ve released 3,500 butterflies into the Tropical Zone, where they’re fluttering around among the plants and landing on peoples’ heads. It’s absolutely magical: the girls were captivated, as was I. I took far too many photos than I should – here are a few of them:

We couldn’t drag the children away, and had a hard job leaving ourselves (a man comes round at about 4pm ringing his bell and shouting “Time, ladies and gentlemen, please!” No beer on offer, sadly.) The event runs until 22nd February, so get yourselves down there before they’ve all fluttered away to a better place.

Novelty value

11 Wednesday Jun 2008

Posted by sallynex in unusual plants

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

advisory service, honeysuckle, lonicera xylosteum, RHS Wisley

I found out what my mystery honeysuckle is today!

I eventually got around to taking a sample over to Wisley’s spectacularly useful Advisory Service a couple of weeks ago. For those who don’t know, this service is perhaps the most useful thing you get along with your RHS membership: you get to take any problem, and any unidentified plant along to your nearest RHS garden (or you can send it in) and you have instant access to the country’s leading plant experts to identify it for you. I always have the “I’m not worthy” feeling when I go in there – why would they want to be bothered with my humble little garden? – but they’re unfailingly friendly and extremely helpful.

Anyway – back to the honeysuckle. It turns out to be Lonicera xylosteum – a new one on me. In his email the RHS botanist tells me it’s “a native shrub sometimes known as fly honeysuckle… It normally forms a medium-sized, deciduous shrub producing small, creamy-white flowers in early summer. These may be followed by red berries in the autumn. Although of very restricted native distribution, it is grown in gardens and has become naturalised throughout the country.”

I love having an Unusual Plant in my garden. It makes me feel like a trustee of something important – something to do with there not being that many around, but one of them’s in my garden. I’ll get ideas about National Collections next…

The Wisley glasshouse

15 Friday Jun 2007

Posted by sallynex in Uncategorized

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birch-log path, Cleve West, garden writing, glasshouse, jungle planting, orchids, philodendron, RHS Wisley, Tom Stuart-Smith, waterfall

One of the great privileges I have with my garden writers’ hat on is that I get to go to sneak previews – and last night I went along to the unveiling of the new glasshouse at RHS Wisley, which opens to the public for the first time today.

Since I’m such a regular visitor to Wisley, I’ve been watching this amazing structure going up gradually over the years, and went along to another press bash in February to see it as the planting went in – well, then it was almost entirely under water after a winter of torrential rain, and we were all taking bets on whether it would be ready in time to open.

We needn’t have worried. It’s quite amazing what they’ve done in the four months since then: it still looks very “new”, and the planting outside (designed by Tom Stuart-Smith) is just in so will take some to show what it’s made of: but inside it is breathtaking. It’s going to be wonderful watching it grow over the months and years to come.


Here it is: a little stark, perhaps, until the exterior landscaping develops, but a remarkable structure nonetheless. It was designed in Holland, and doubles-up as a water collection system.


At the centre is a magnificent waterfall – you walk behind it as you pass from the temperate side into the tropical. The rock is artificial, and hides a “root zone” exhibit underneath.


There were orchids in the palm trees: I wasn’t quite sure if they were there for our benefit, or if they’re going to stay! They looked fantastic, anyway.


And then there were the plants… these Philodendron leaves were up to two feet long and that soft, velvety texture was so utterly gorgeous. And this is just a baby plant…


Outside in Cleve West’s teaching garden, there were loads of great ideas – I’m going to nick this fantastic birch-log path for the jungle area around my pond.

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