Wisley Plant Centre

Choice Woodlanders at Wisley next March!

Wisley Plant Centre — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:43:00 GMT

On March 17th next year, the event 'Woodland Gems for your Garden' in the Wisley Plant Centre showcases elegant and sophisticated shade-lovers, focusing especially on Trillium and Erythronium (Trout Lilies). Your guide will be expert grower Hugh Nunn of Harvington in Worcestershire, who has many years of experience in cultivation of these beauties, alongside other treats such as wood anemones and Uvularia (Merry Bells).

Get your fruit identified this weekend!

Wisley Plant Centre — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 14:27:00 GMT

Have you got a fruit tree in your garden, but don't know which variety? Jim Arbury, fruit guru at RHS Wisley, will be on hand at the Plant Centre to identify your unknown fruit, from 11am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm, on both Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th November.

Local heritage apple varieties now available from Wisley

Wisley Plant Centre — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:33:00 GMT

Cool cuts at Wisley

Wisley Plant Centre — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:18:00 GMT

Ace topiarist and expert in the Japanese art of niwaki, Jake Hobson, will be at Wisley on November 19th. He'll talk about his contemporary pruning style and show examples, followed by a short demonstration.

Web Chat on Contemporary Borders, this Friday

Wisley Plant Centre — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 08:31:00 GMT

Get all 'Naturalistic' at Wisley this September!

Wisley Plant Centre — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:53:00 GMT

If you're at all interested in modern 'naturalistic' planting, Wisley's the place to be on September 17th & 18th. The 'Contemporary Borders' event features horticultural heavyweights Noel Kingsbury (prolific writer and designer) and Neil Lucas (grasses guru and owner of Knoll Gardens in Dorset).

Summer Musings with Mr. Alexander-Sinclair

Wisley Plant Centre — Tue, 03 May 2011 10:59:00 GMT

Come to Wisley on July 9th or 10th to hear designer, writer, broadcaster and blogger James Alexander-Sinclair talk about his favourite summer plants. The weekend is inspired by his book '101 Bold & Beautiful Flowers' and James will sign the book in the afternoons at the Plant Centre, where you will find a huge range of colourful plants to buy (and those booking the morning talks will get a £5 voucher to spend).

Heavenly Hellebores!

Wisley Plant Centre — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 12:30:00 GMT

Want to add a Walberton's Rosemary or Josef Lemper to your collection? We have these plus loads more, along with companion plants and expert advice on how to grow them.

Valentines, Mothers and a Homage to Heaven

Wisley Plant Centre — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:02:00 GMT

With the milder spell of weather our fabulous plants are at last exploding into leaf and flower. To celebrate we’d like to offer you all free gift wrap for any houseplant - including potted bulbs - bought on Saturday 13^th February and on Saturday 13^th March. The less sentimental amongst us may need a gentle prompt that Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day are just around the corner.   We have a fantastic array of houseplants and potted bulbs including some gorgeous orchid plants for that perfect valentine’s gift.

And it’s almost time for our annual homage to Hellebore Heaven, our yearly festival for these gorgeous plants lead by hellebore gurus Hugh Nunn and Richard Bramley.   Please join us on Saturday 13 & Sunday 14 February when we’ll have talks at 11am, 1.30pm & 3pm and informal question-time throughout the weekend (with Hugh on Saturday and Richard on Sunday).

The event is free and we challenge you to resist the out-of-this-world collection of hellebore varieties we have for sale! With all your hellebore questions answered you can be sure of a long and happy relationship with these most beautiful garden plants. Look out for the Helleborus ‘Party Dress’ – we don’t get them very often!


Here's Suti with Helleborus ‘Ruby Glow’, and H. 'Harvington Smokey Blues' one of Hugh Nunn's gorgeous hellebores.

Click here for events information and for more about Wisley Plant Centre.

'Snow chance of missing this!

Wisley Plant Centre — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:31:00 GMT

Wisley is looking beautiful in these snowy conditions. Here in the Plant Centre we’ve cleared the snow and we’re ready to greet you so come and check out our further reduced sale items.

Our sale gifts, lighting and decorations are now 75% off and with many gorgeous plants offered at a massive 50% discount you can’t afford to miss it! I’m going to treat myself to a fabulous glass garden oil torch, reduced from £50 to £12.50.

We’re also clearing the snow for our Snowdrop Splendour weekend event on 30^th and 31^st January. Donald Palmer, who has been collecting snowdrops (Galanthus) for more than 20 years, will be giving talks about these delicate and dainty winter flowers at 11am and 2.30pm on both days. Here's Donald enthralling our audience last time he was with us..

We’ll have a fantastic theatre snowdrop display by the Lockyer family, Chelsea medal winners, and there will be over 80 varieties of snowdrop to buy, many rarely available. Here is a sneak preview of what we hope to have for you that weekend. Snowdrop list

And here is more about Wisley Plant Centre

Exclusive Christmas launch at Wisley Plant Centre

Wisley Plant Centre — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:18:00 GMT

Last night we hosted our ‘Make Christmas Special’ Christmas launch evening, where we greeted more than 350 invited guests with glasses of wine and mince pies.

The place looked stunning, with many seasonal plants, decorations and novel gifts for sale. Our team created an inspirational display of Christmas front doors and gardens to demonstrate traditional, modern and cottage styles. They wouldn’t have looked out of place at Chelsea!

Our sought after prize draw for the evening went to Mary Humphreys who wins £100 to spend with us at a time of her choosing.

If you’re interested in coming to this event next year please email Tina at wisleyplantcentre@rhs.org.uk and she’ll put your name on the list.

More about Wisley Plant Centre

Sloe, sloe, quick quick sloe………

Wisley Plant Centre — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:48:00 GMT

. . . . it’s the time of year to plant your hedging. We have bundles of hedging plants which must be planted now, while they are dormant. They are field grown, lifted and bundled for your convenience, and they must be planted out immediately before they spring into life. Autumn is the best time as the soil is moist and it promotes root growth so your hedge gets off to a flying start.

This year we are proud to have in our range a mixed native bundle, ideal for making a natural looking hedge that is great for attracting wildlife.

We also have bundles of Prunus spinosa – the plant that gives you those juicy black sloes for making sloe gin with. [Fill a bottle with pricked sloes, add some sugar and fill up with gin. Allow to permeate for a few months, turning daily.]

Here’s what we have available:

Description		Retail Price
CARPINUS BETULUS (HORNBEAM, 10 PLANTS)		£25.00
CORNUS SANGUINEA (DOGWOOD, 10 PLANTS)		£19.99
CORYLUS AVELLANA (HAZEL, 10 PLANTS)		£19.99
CRATAEGUS MONOGYNA (HAWTHORN, 10 PLANTS)		£19.99
EUONYMUS EUROPAEUS (SPINDLE, 10 PLANTS)		£19.99
FAGUS SYLVATICA (GREEN BEECH, 10 PLANTS)		£19.99
FAGUS SYLVATICA PURPUREA (COPPER BEECH, 5 PLANTS) +		£25.00
HEDGING MIXED (NATIVE BUNDLE, 10 PLANTS) *		£19.99
LIGUSTRUM OVALIFOLIUM (PRIVET, 10 PLANTS)		£25.00
LIGUSTRUM VULGARE (PRIVET, 10 PLANTS)		£25.00
LONICERA NITIDA (SHRUB HONEYSUCKLE, 5 PLANTS) +		£12.99
PRUNUS SPINOSA (BLACKTHORN, 10 PLANTS)		£19.99
ROSA RUGOSA (RAMANAS ROSE, 10 PLANTS)		£19.99
ROSA RUGOSA ALBA (WHITE RAMANAS ROSE, 10 PLANTS)		£19.99
VIBURNUM OPULUS (GUELDER ROSE, 10 PLANTS)		£25.00

+ Note, bundle contains five plants
* The mixed hedging bundle includes Acer campestre (Field Maple) x 2, Cornus sanguinea (Common Dogwood) x 1, Corylus avellana (Hazel) x 2, Crataegus monogyna (Hawthorn) x 3, Euonymus europaeus (Spindle) x 1, Prunus spinosa (Blackthorn / Sloe).

When planting your hedge try adding a packet of mycorrhizal fungi to the roots to improve establishment. For more information on rootgrow http://www.plantworksuk.co.uk/rootgrow_information.php

For more information about Wisley Plant Centre please click here.

Creative, colourful and convenient

Wisley Plant Centre — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:27:00 GMT

Are these the first words to spring to mind when you think of conifers? Yes! Because conifers are a wonderful way of adding colour, shape and style to your garden.

They’re easy to grow and visually stunning. Many change colour during the year so you can have fabulous splashes of orange, blue or purple in autumn or winter just when it's needed.

Come and see our large selection of conifers. Small, slow-growing, medium sized or giant, they are incredibly versatile – some are perfect for growing on patios and balconies, others are great for giving height to borders. The Cryptomeria japonica ‘Rasen-sugi’ rising out of my small fern bed gives an almost prehistoric look with its braided curls of twisted green foliage lit up against the strong, red bark of its narrow trunk. Or you can try a pair of formal Cupressus sempervirens either side of a door for an arresting, stately look.

If you’d like to see conifers in situ, visit the Pinetum, Rock Garden and Conifer Lawn at the RHS Garden, Wisley and then come in to us (through the gate in the Mixed Borders) and see what we can offer you. Alternatively, come through our main entrance, there’s no charge. And as National Conifer Week runs from 3-11 October, we’ll have lots of special stock to inspire you to garden with conifers.

Please click Wisley Plant Centre for more information about us.

Latest news, planting ideas & offers

Wisley Plant Centre — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 11:15:00 GMT

First, our congratulations go to Mr Musk, the winner of the raffle held on 29^th July at our Scents of Summer open evening. Mr Musk wins £100 of RHS vouchers and we hope very much he will enjoy spending them with us!

And now - the autumn bulb planting season is upon us.

Don’t get confused by one particular autumn bulb. Colchicums are surprising and very clever. They come up already in flower, before the leaf shows, looking fantastic as they emerge from the ground. They’re excellent for naturalising in grass. Plant the bulbs now and they’ll flower this autumn.

The more conventional autumn planting bulbs that give a delightful spring show are with us in colossal variety. To get you started how about our Select Collection offer on a range of Crocus and Narcissi, any 4 packs for £10.00.

And, dare I say it, have you thought about pot planting Prepared Hyacinths for a fantastic table display at Christmas? We have them in blue, white or pink at 65p each or 5 for £2.50 and they need to be potted and in the dark in September. Please ask for one of our cultivation leaflets to ensure your chosen variety is flowering on the day!
To find out more about us please click Wisley Plant Centre

Where’s the summer gone?

Wisley Plant Centre — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:08:00 GMT

What we need is busy lizzies to brighten our gardens! If you visit RHS Wisley this summer you can’t help but notice the two fabulous towers of colour on the terrace at the entrance into the gardens.

These plants look like New Guinea busy lizzies but in actual fact they are not! They are a new hybrid of Impatiens called Sunpatiens which are much more suitable for growing in our climate.

SunPatiens® are bedding plants that perform exceptionally well in HEAT, HUMIDITY, RAIN, SUN, SHADE, and both COOL and WARM temperatures unlike New Guinea Impatiens which are much fussier. They are vigorous, compact and slightly spreading and the colour lasts for ages. What more could you want!
We have them available in a pink, white and an orange/red and they are £4.50 each in a 2 litre pot.

Here you can see Brenda proudly presenting one of her top sellers this week!

The towers at the Garden entrance have been produced by growing the plants in a hanging bag type system with irrigation but they are equally as happy in the ground or in containers for summer bedding.
If you wish to overwinter some plants then take cuttings late summer. Flowers will last right up until the first frosts so plant now for a dazzling late summer and early autumn blaze of colour in your garden.

For more information about us please click Wisley Plant Centre