Wisteria at Wisley

One of the advantages of visiting RHS Wisley at this time of year is to see some wisteria close up. I hadn’t realised before we went, but of course it makes perfect sense for Wisley to have wonderful wisteria. On this visit we tried many new paths, and after a wander through a garden full of box and ivy and leaving through this grand gateway we were about to head straight into the flowering wisteria.

And unusually straight past the peonies both in flower and in bud, well for the time being anyway.

Wisteria really is a wonderful plant, and I’m sure you can understand the pull to see it much closer up.

Wisteria is plentiful in our local area, it’s even in our neighbouring gardens - but I’ve not been able to get up this close to any of them. Isn’t it magnificient?

I have contemplated our own plant, and growing it against the cottage wall at the bottom of our garden would work well for us. I’m less sure if it would work quite so well for our neighbours living in the cottage though, so it’s never happened. I just have to admire from afar, or up close if I get the chance.

The wisteria had fairly grand surroundings.

And happy bed fellows.

With a final backward glance we headed off to explore more of what the gardens had to offer, and spoiler, there was plenty more to see.

Topiary at RHS Wisley

On our last visit to RHS Wisley, in February 2020, I saw something there I’d never seen before. You’ll know how much of a fan of topiary I am, so this discovery was a good find for me. A whole ‘alley’ of differently shaped and perfectly manicured topiary.

There’s little more that I can add, so sit back, scroll down and enjoy the fantastic shapes.

Unfortunately for us, Wisley is a little too far to be counted as ‘local’ for us during lockdown, but it’s somewhere I’m keen to get back to when the time is right. It was one of my Visit Seven gardens last year, and it was good to be able to get there once. I’ve not celebrated my 8th blogging anniversary here yet, which probably is indicative of the last year too. I’ll get there, I just need to work out how I’ll do that, as choosing eight places to visit, let alone gardens, feels ambitious right now!

A shower over the tub

After the last post, from the dining room, you’ll know that the bathroom was MOH’s favourite room. It’s the last room in the ‘house’ and it was pretty spectacular. It was also hard to photograph, but that didn’t influence my decision, the dining room was my favourite. After seeing each of the rooms we dutifully dropped our tokens into the respective perspex boxes (a bit like you do in Waitrose).

It’ll be interesting to hear which room is overall most popular, I suspect it might be this one as it did have the wow factor. And it’s the last room of the Giant Houseplant Takeover.

As soon as you enter this room, you know it’s going to be special. Not only as the bathroom sink is the first glimpse you get, but also because people are reluctant to move on and vacate their viewing position. It’s understandable, but frustrating though I’m sure I did exactly that too.

I was surprised that MOH opted for this room as his favourite as he’s really not a fan of Mind Your Own Business, which I’m cultivating very happily in our garden to soften the edges of the slate and paving, and the edges of the sleeper raised beds. He’s all for ripping it up, and I’m sure is more enthusiastic about any ‘pruning’ that I authorise than I intend him to be. I’ll be able to remind him that he was a fan, next time he rolls his eyes at the MYOB though, won’t I?

The shower over the tub, as I’ve titled this post, was the main and spectacular centrepiece for this room. But it’s not just about the cascading water, which is pretty cool, look at the detail of the shower head, and how the plants behind the cascade echo the downward movement. It’s very clever, and not something that’s been thrown together.

I was fascinating by the bath structure too, and as you can see from the photo above it’s supported by a couple of posts, which gives it that ‘floating’ feeling. The blue also helps it both stand out and blend in to its surroundings. The plants throughout the exhibition were fantastic, but it was here (along with the leaves on the bureau in the living room) that my interest was really piqued.

A BIRD’S NEST FERN

I’ve not seen plants like the Bird’s Nest fern above before (it’s ‘Crispy Wave’ if you want to know more) but I’d very happily see much more of this, and seeing it closer to home (i.e. in my back garden) would also be welcome. Though the fact that it was in the hot houses at Wisley, probably means it won’t be so happy out side in all weathers.

Once again it pays to look up, as there were these quite large plants and their bound root balls above our heads. These reminded me of the snitch (or ball) used in the quidditch games in Harry Potter. I’m sure they’re probably supposed to represent something else, but that’s the first thing that came to my mind. I’m not quite sure what that says about my mind though…

It was good to end the tour of the house with a pop of colour from these Birds of Paradise-like plants, especially for me, you know how much I love colour. You already know which rooms were mine and MOH’s favourites, but which is yours?