A Trip to RHS Wisley

I decided on the spur of the moment this morning to visit the RHS Garden at Wisley in Surrey. I have been an RHS member for a number of years which allows me to visit any time, free of charge. Over the past years I have watched the construction of the bicentennial glasshouse. Imagine my sheer delight to see a noticeboard on entering the garden which read "The new glasshouse will open to the public on Friday 15th June at 10am " We were among the first ever to step inside this glasshouse!

This was the desert zone, filled with various succulents and cacti. I was thrilled to see a King Protea in full flower.

The humid tropical zone complete with waterfall, and a stunning display of Oriental lillies grown specially for the opening of the glasshouse. In fact as we entered the glasshouse, they were giving away vouchers to redeem at the shop for a free packet of lilly bulbs to celebrate the opening.

Of course, the point of my visit was to visit the model vegetable garden (because you can't eat flowers!) A number of the crops were being grown under mulches of some description or another. These onions grown through black plastic. Courgettes being grown through black weed-suppressing membrane and tomatoes being grown through a jute mat. To my delight I was able to corner one of the Wisley staff and talk technical stuff and ask questions about veggie growing. She was awesome! A real expert who knew her stuff. What a delight.

Finally, this was the first display upon entering the RHS Garden. This space reserved for formal bedding, was used last year for a spectacular sempervivum clock. This Summer I was amazed to find this mosaic pattern planted up entirely with........lettuce !!