Sara Draycott

Blog from the Orchard, by Jim Arbury, RHS Garden Wisley

Sara Draycott — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:46:00 GMT

Hi I am Jim Arbury and this is my first blog. I am an RHS horticultural specialist with a particular interest and experience in fruit growing. I have worked at Wisley for 30 years and so have seen the orchard and fruit gardens through many contrasting seasons. I have been involved with all aspects of fruit growing and in my own time grow vegetables and keep bees.

Pelargonium fans at Wisley - with Paul and Katie

Sara Draycott — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:40:00 GMT

Hi. We're Katie and Paul and we would like to ask if you're a "fan" of pelargoniums. We work in the Propagation Department at Wisley (Katie is a trainee, Paul is a long-standing member of staff having once been a trainee but now has many years experience - you can see us in Figure 4 below).

Fancy a bit of the Mediterranean in your life? A profusion of incredible scent and colour are on show in the Pelargonium display at Wisley. It is on for six weeks from May 4th - come now to see it at its best!

Going to sea in a sieve at Wisley - with Lucie Ponsford

Sara Draycott — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:49:00 GMT

March was freezing . . . thank goodness for April the drip, drip, drop has been just the ticket, combined with sunshine, to encourage the plants and us all to unfurl from what has been a long and bitter winter.

The Roots of RHS Garden Wisley, by Sabatino Urzo

Sara Draycott — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:50:00 GMT

Not many people know that on the western end of Liguria on the Italian Riviera, just before reaching the boundary at Ponte San Luigi, it is possible to admire one of the most delightful gardens created by Sir Thomas Hanbury. In 1867 he bought an estate producing the greatest gardens of the Riviera. Sir Thomas Hanbury was a gardener who, at the end of his life, bought a large estate at Wisley and donated it to the Royal Horticultural Society in 1903 "for the encouragement and improvement of the science and practice of horticulture in all its branches". To experience this legendary garden, Emily and Rohanna, two of the second year Wisley Diploma trainees, and I went to the breathtaking Italian Riviera to discover and work in this extraordinary garden.

The Diary of a Wisley Gardener 2013 - with Lucie Ponsford

Sara Draycott — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 11:09:00 GMT

New beginnings:

Jan 7th 2013 marks the exciting beginnings for my second year at RHS Wisley. I am taking over custodianship of the Canal, Walled gardens, Conifer lawn and surround. For me, and I am sure many other families this is the quintessential vision of Wisley and one I have known of old.

Orchid Fantasy comes to life at Wisley - with Helen Feary

Sara Draycott — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:04:00 GMT

It’s been a hive of activity down in the Glasshouse and now the 'fantasy island of orchids' is open and will run until Sunday 21 April.

First steps for Top Terrace Summer Bedding at Wisley - with Rohanna Heyes

Sara Draycott — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:52:00 GMT

A soft, light-filled, bird chirping beckons through curtains, before my alarm has even contemplated jarring my dreams with its woeful lament. Despite the faltering march toward springs symphony (yes we know Siberian snow) there remains optimism. At Wisley the *** willows from Seven Acres to the Aboretum are adorned with silvery bunny tail buds. Now that's a sure sign for the bees. Also it's the angle of the sun, it lingers a little longer, shines a little stronger, day by day rising higher, until the skies of summer (I hope) it shall conquer.

It is for this hope that we gardeners brave the cold and prepare. At the moment we are caught up in the excitement of sowing and growing for the summer bedding on the Top Terrace at Wisley Garden. Annually, trainees are given a brief from which to design a scheme for this area, this years theme being centred on the centenary of the Chelsea Flower Show at its current location. It is a very involved process from start to finish, especially for the team of the chosen design, which this year was myself and fellow trainee Tina Garland. In our design we wanted to create a journey through time, showing bedding plants with significance to different periods of gardening in the last 100 years. To reflect this timely journey our design begins with a traditional bedding scheme consisting of edging plant, dot plant and filler plant/s. As you move through the design this conventional layout is deconstructed by spacing the filler plants in decreasingly smaller blocks.

Butterflies with personalities - Cara Smith

Sara Draycott — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 12:01:00 GMT

After working with the butterflies for three years I have definitely decided that butterflies have personalities and noticed that certain species exhibit certain characteristics. Some show off and are very visible flying around and landing on people as they walk around whereas others seem to disappear as soon as you release them and can only be spotted by those with a keen eye. I will share with you some of my observations.

New arrivals and seed pod lookalikes - Butterflies at Wisley with Cara Smith

Sara Draycott — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 17:10:00 GMT

At last warmer, brighter weather arrived, albeit temporary. The butterflies certainly enjoyed it and were very active for a few days. When the snowy weather was with us I ordered some extra pupae to bulk up numbers to make sure the butterflies were visible in the Tropical Zone. Stratford Butterfly Farm supply us and despite the late notice were able to oblige (thank you!). In the extra order were some Eryphanis polyxena, a species we have not had in the event before. This lovely, large butterfly looks like a cross between a Blue Morpho and an Owl Butterfly. It has browny caramel coloured wings with spots resembling eyes which open to reveal iridescent blue patches. Below is a photo of it resting with wings closed.

Points for cuteness with the butterflies at Wisley - Cara Smith

Sara Draycott — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 11:28:00 GMT

We had our first Malay Lacewing (pictured below) emerge this week, with its beautiful fluted wing edge, and many others followed along with plenty of Tree Nymphs (the balck and white butterfly pictured lower down the page), Blue Morphos and Giant Orange Tips. The snowy weather has been a challenge as optimum conditions for butterfly flight are bright and sunny and around 26-28°C so for those who dared to venture out in the snow a little more spotting skill and patience was required to spot all of the species (about 26 different ones) we have at the moment.

Blocked Drains, Steinbeck and Bunnies in Wisley's Wild Garden with Rohanna Heyes

Sara Draycott — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:00:00 GMT

John Steinbeck said: “What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” Surely after all the wintery weather we have had of late, it must be time for a sweet summer ahead. But actually I quite like some bits of winter, the excess of layers, of hats, hoods, scarfs, mittens and gumboots. A time of bonfires, hot tea, pruned branches and puddles with deep reflections.
I am now working with the Turf Team, who, you guessed it, look after all the turf at Wisley, but actually they do other things besides, including helping keep the gardens accessible to the public. After the snow and rain of late there were some rather overflowing ditches in the Wild Garden, so we donned the waders and got into some pretty cool waters to inspect was causing the blockage of flow.

Having a "nose" around the butterflies at Wisley - with Cara Smith

Sara Draycott — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:40:00 GMT

The first weekend of the event went really well with many of the pupae we stuck last week emerging.

Butterflies in the Glasshouse - peek behind the scenes with Cara Smith at Wisley

Sara Draycott — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 12:15:00 GMT

Hi. I'm Cara Smith, a horticulturist in the Glasshouse at RHS Garden Wisley. At this time of year I'm also responsible for care of the butterflies during the Butterflies in the Glasshouse event.

A little something for summer...Rohanna Heyes: Wisley Trainee

Sara Draycott — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 13:28:00 GMT

A frosty view from the propagation glasshouse at Wisley.

The sun breaks through finally on a frosty morning, the moment all morning my fingers and toes have been waiting for. Suddenly the stained glass windowed leaves of the poinsettia shine, eager to be off to their new home, poster children for Christmas in the Wisley Glasshouse. Today we lost them to their new home but there is plenty to be getting on with in propagation, as here its not so much about the present, nor the gifts, but the planning and preparing for the seasons ahead.

Ways with willow - A Wisley Trainee's work - Rohanna Heyes.

Sara Draycott — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 22:27:00 GMT

Willow is a common thing, so common often we do not know it when we see it. It makes up a green periphery, growing in unkempt lands, on verges, swamplands, the back of beyo nd where it blends in to the landscape quietly as if it had nothing to say. In the aptly titled book Willows (1972) Warren-Wren says: “willow is the Cinderella of the arboreal and horticultural scene, that has waited over an aeon of time for a fairy godmother to grant her wish to go to the ball”. Certainly willow has lived through the ages, through ice ages, a real pioneer, some 400 species of the genus are spread almost entirely across the globe excepting Antarctica and Australasia (where it has since been introduced). Long it has been used by working hands to fashion useful objects, while more recent applications further allude to this genus’s vast usefulness: land drainage, bio remediation, bio filtration, bio engineering and fuel production.