Gardens to visit in spring and summer – RHS Wisley

Honestly, you can’t call yourself a British gardener unless you’ve been to the Royal Horticultural Society’s Wisley Gardens. Even in March, when the weather can be bleak, this is a site that offers delights to the keen horticulturalist. Not only are there fantastic displays of daffodils, but the National collection of crocus which is held at Wisley, is something that literally carpets the grounds with glowing mats of colour almost impossible to describe when seen against the otherwise grey landscape of early spring. But that’s not all – as well as the outdoor surprises so early in the year, there are always the Glasshouses where ornamental exotics can be relied upon to provide a colourful display, regardless of season.

In 1878 George Ferguson Wilson businessman and scientist as well as a keen gardener, purchased the site and established The Oakwood Experimental Garden. In 1903 when he died, Sir Thomas Hanbury bought the estate and presented it in trust to the R.H.S.

The house at Wisley is very beautiful, with its half-timbered Tudor style buildings and even non-gardeners will be happy wandering around the attractive landscape because the two hundred acre garden offers something for everyone, including an alpine meadow, The Rock Garden, Battlestone Hill woodland garden and the Mediterranean Garden.

The trials of flowers, vegetables and fruit - an important part of the Society's work since 1860 – are carried on here. Not the ‘guilty – hang by your neck till you’re dead’ kind of trial, but the serious and long-term endeavour to show to the public the best kinds of plants to grow – which remains one of the principal objects of the garden.

Wisley photograph by David Wilmot, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

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