My Garden

Last summer, while losing my mobile phone in the luxuriant dahlia trial (and finding it again the next day) I realised that some visitors, overwhelmed by the flamboyant exhibition types, may have missed some of the best new dahlias of recent years. The Happy Series. which includes the dramatic Happy... Read more..

Last winter there was a huge trial of winter pansies at Wisley. Two hundred and fifty four different entries were grown and many were dazzling in the spring but not so many were consistently good in the winter when they're most needed. And it was for winter flowering that we judged them. The result... Read more..

There’s one place you can go this week to see masses of new plants. Just a short walk from the RHS garden at Wisley , in nearby Wisley village, is Deers Farm, a trials area which is not normally open to the public – but on Thursday and Friday this week it is. And on show there you’ll find some fascinating... Read more..

It's just not possible to run trials of all the plants there are - Wisley would be full of nothing but trials and the entire RHS staff would work in the Trials Office! So, occasionally, reviews take place at which suggestions for Awards of Garden Merit put forward by the specialist committees are... Read more..

Well, the snow put paid to the judging of winter foliage of bergenias at Wisley this week. Here they are, entirely covered with snow! There's over three hundred bergenias, in over a hundred species and varieties there, but not much to assess at the moment The judges will be back to look them over... Read more..

V When I saw the Wisley trial of forty seven different forms of Hydrangea paniculata last September I was impressed. These are easy and dependable summer and autumn shrubs whose shapely blooms provide attractive colour from bud to faded flower And this week's publication of a free-to-download full... Read more..

Last year the Wisley dahlia trial was one of the most colourful - and interesting - of the season. It usually is. It's always worth seeing just to admire the dazzling display. But of course there's a purpose to it: finding the best. Out of a grand total of one hundred and forty nine different... Read more..

Last year the Wisley dahlia trial was one of the most colourful - and interesting - of the season. It usually is. It's always worth seeing just to admire the dazzling display. But of course there's a purpose to it: finding the best. Out of a grand total of one hundred and forty nine different... Read more..

The current RHS Plant Finder lists over 70,000 different plants and there are vegetables and many more that never find their way into the book. But how do you know which are the best? Well, the RHS tests many of them at its garden at Wisley and gives the prestigious Award of Garden Merit to those few... Read more..

The icy and snowy weather earlier this month revealed one way in which the Wisley trials are so useful. One of the most valuable features of bergenias is their winter foliage colour and the recent weather has put them to the test - some retained their foliage and were revealed in glorious colour when... Read more..