Wisley Getting Arty

We are regular visitors to RHS Wisley for the gardens and in particular the tropical glass house.

The waterfall in the glasshouse

However on the weekend of the 18 and 19th July there is another reason to visit, the RHS are holding a weekend Arts Festival, snappily named "Arts Fest". The RHS promise a weekend of artistic fun and festivity. With live music in the garden, as well as  theatre performances, an abundance of craft stands and demonstrations plus a programme of poetry and literary talks. Throughout the weekend there will be aerial acrobatic performances in the Glasshouse, Hedgemen wandering around to greet you and workshops to create giant-gardeners.

Event times: 

Saturday 18 July 

11-12pm The Cabinet of Curiosities 

12.15-1.15pm Poetry to Go and Dan Simpson’s Crowdsourced Poetry 

1.30-2.30pm Dominic Berry’s The Dragon Who Hates Poetry 

2.45-3.45pm An afternoon with John Hegley, featuring Jane Ireland 

4.00-5.00pm The Cabinet of Curiosities 

Sunday 19 July 

11-12pm The Cabinet of Curiosities 

12.15-1.15pm Poetry to Go and Dan Simpson’s Crowdsourced Poetry 

1.30-2.30pm Joshua Seigal presents My Grandpa's Beard (And Lots of Other Poems) 

2.45-3.45pm An afternoon with AF Harrold 

4.00-5.00pm The Cabinet of Curiosities

The RHS have held this event before although we have been unable to attend previously.

For more information see the RHS Website. Normal garden entry rates apply and RHS members can enter using their membership card. 

Written in collaboration with IHG

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A Winters Trip to Wisley

RHS Wisley is a garden that we seem to visit far more frequently in winter than in the summer. When ever we go we always comment that we must visit in Spring and Summer as well as the colder months. But as its still January we will have to wait and see if we can manage to take advantage of our membership.

Anyway ignoring our musings, we visited recently.

When you first enter the garden the long pond stretches out before you, although cold the skies were very clear blue.

Henry Moore sculpture by the house

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Objets d'Art at Wisley Shop

It's been a relatively long time since we've been to any garden attraction as of recent but we've finally remedied that by a quick visit to RHS Wisley today. However before we post any photos of the plants and the garden itself I thought of posting some of the knick knacks we saw at their gift shop first.

Nelumbo seed pod vase, oh la la!

Taking inspiration from some of the posts Peter makes in his blog Outlaw Gardener of his regular visits to nurseries and garden centres and the notable accessories he spots there, I'll be doing something very similar.

We don't often feature garden knick knacks we spot at gift shops of garden attractions as it's not often we spot anything unique and unusual to do so (or personally find attractive). Besides most gift shops tend to stock tacky accessories and the tendency is to have low expectations whenever we peruse this section but this time it is an exception as I actually found several items that I really, really liked and I was pleasantly surprised....

I have a thing for vases and potteries that have organic shapes, textured, and have interesting forms so when I spotted these my immediate response was to give them a good once over:

Objets d'Art

Even their other accessories from the range I found rather attractive, yes even the bird vase!

And the big urns, I'm always on the look out for big urns for a reasonable price to put in the garden.

I'm not sure about the large urns and vases but the textured, organic inspired potteries came from a Dutch company called Des Pots and a quick look at their range online as got me well impressed and rather hooked. A few stockists are listed on their site but will keep my eyes open for where else their range can be found. Suddenly visiting gift shops of public gardens has become extra interesting.

This kitsch lemon bowl really caught my eye and I love it! It's out of my price range though so had to leave it behind.

So what did I go home with? Three of those lotus seed pod vases did. The unique shape, colour, and reasonable price all ticked the boxes for instant purchase. The large one would have been great but the smaller ones would be easier to integrate either in the house or out in the garden during the summer.

I'm really pleased with my purchase but part of my mind is still on that lemon bowl!!! Wish I spotted that before Christmas...

Mark :-)

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A Tour of the Glasshouse at Wisley

We blogged recently about visiting the Gardens at RHS Wisley, and that post concentrated on exploring the grounds. However as well as having fabulous landscaped gardens, Wisley is also home to a large glasshouse that was only opened in the summer of 2007 by her majesty the Queen. As we mentioned on that last blog we normally visit Wisley in the winter, usually to spend time in the tropical heat and humidity under cover rather than explore the grounds themselves. Don't get me wrong the grounds are lovely even in the depths of winter, but usually by then a little heat is just what's needed to escape the cold outside.

On that recent trip we spent a lot of time outside but also explored the glasshouse too, well it would be rude not too wouldn't it!

On approaching the entrance they have planted large beds of exotics, just a tempting preview of what's inside.

Ensetes and other exotics outside

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Alpine Troughs, Miniature Gardens

One of the places we always check out whenever we visit the RHS Wisley garden is the Alpine area. In there you can find the alpine display house, crevice garden, raised gravel beds, and several small troughs with alpine plants thriving in them. I do like this section of the garden, so many miniature plant gems and most of them are hardy too, given that their other growing conditions are met of course and the most common denominator of which is sharp drainage.

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Wisley is Not Just for Winter

For us anyway. We've been to RHS Wisley so many times before but always during the winter, never in any other season apart from winter.

Blue skies, lush greenery, and sculptures for sale at RHS Wisley last Saturday

And it looked like it was set to be like that again this year so before that became the case we decided to break tradition and actually made it there before the cold weather set in. Finally, we made it to Wisley, and it's not even winter yet!

The blue skies that greeted us just outside the main entrance

It was great to see the place with the herbaceous plants not yet frosted and tidied away, and the long borders still looking lush and vibrant with colour. And to see the Alpine beds with out its perspex roof on too (which it always has, you guessed it right, during the winter). And even better, we spent most of our time outdoors rather than inside the main glasshouse seeking refuge from the cold outside.

It's mainly about the outside this time!

To put it simply, it is such a beautiful garden/horticultural learning institution, where you can see and feel that every bit is well loved and taken cared for by people who love plants and gardening (it should be, it's the flagship garden of the RHS!). A plant lover's paradise!

Dappled autumn sunshine on Battleston Hill

The Trial beds

Dahlias on trial...

Rows of beautiful grasses

There are so many things to talk about and feature about this wonderful place so I won't make this particular post verbose. Rather this is just an introduction of some sort and we will feature different aspects of this garden in our future posts, interspersed amongst other blog subjects.

Love at first sight....

Pinus montezumae 'Sheffield Park'

So great to see this garden whilst it's still reasonably warm (for British standards that is) and lush outside. No doubt we will be back again soon, in the winter most likely. But we must remember to break tradition again next year and hopefully make it in the spring and summer just for a change!

Mark

RHS Wisley

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