Travel Stories: English Gardens Tour (6)

(This is the 6th in a series of blog posts about the 2018 English Gardens Tour I led.)

The garden we visited on the fourth full day of our trip was magnificent! I had heard of Wisley Gardens before — probably in a magazine or on a garden show — but this was my first time there. No one in my group had seen it before either. Little did we know what a treat it would be!

Sneak peek of Wisley Gardens:

Prior to leaving on the trip, I had watched the following video, which show Wisley Gardens from above. It was produced by the Royal Horticultural Society. Take a look:

Well, what do you think?! Do you want to go there? If so, please take me along because I definitely did not see it all!

Even though we had four hours at Wisley, it still wasn’t enough. We began with a nice orientation from one of the volunteers, just to get the lay of the land. It turns out that Wisley is the historic home of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and is considered one of the finest gardens in the world. I would have to agree.

Wisley Gardens highlights:

Most of our group headed up to Battleston Hill, which is a woodland garden, and came upon rhododendrons which just happened to be in full bloom. The colors of blossoms were just breathtaking. While I took a lot of photos of them, I wasn’t always able to locate a cultivar name… but in the photos below, I’ll identify the ones I found name tags for.

From there, we all wandered off in different directions, drawn by the beautiful vistas.  The was the Laboratory building (photo at right) surrounded by terraces and a large reflecting pool, the glasshouse borders planted in “rivers”; Seven Acres with water displays and sculptures; the Rock Garden which was created between 1910 and 1912 and features streams and waterfall; the huge Glasshouse which houses plants growing in three separate climate zones; the Vegetable, Fruit and Herb Garden; the Wall Gardens; the Bonsai walk; and the Trials Field where plants are evaluated by the RHS’s trials team for the Award of Garden Merit. As you can imagine, a person really needs a full day to take in all Wisley has to offer. But it was truly a highlight of our English Gardens Tour.

Here are some of the sights we enjoyed:

And here are some of the fabulous rhododendrons:

 

   

 I hope you enjoyed this virtual trip to Wisley Gardens. I would go back there in a heartbeat!