One of the newest members of the Trials Department team is Hazel Kennedy. She started in mid September having just completed the two year Wisley Diploma in Practical Horticulture. Although everyone works on everything, each member of the team has particular plant trials that they take responsibility... Read more..

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..

It comes to us now just once a year, but when it does, it does it with a bang. Last week we held our annual Flower Show on Seven Acres at Wisley. The theme was fuchsias, and we had them inside, outside, all over. This tied in nicely with those that greet you as you approach the Garden from the the car... Read more..

Of all the parts of the Garden at Wisley, the Trials Field is always an exciting area to visit. The dahlias and chrysanthemums are spectacular at the moment, as are the sunny Tagetes (marigolds), last of the cool delphiniums, and the statuesque Cortaderia grasses, amongst many others. Our Sempervivum... 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..

The wonderful thing about this time of year is the harvesting of crops we’ve tended all year. This week the team on the Trials Field have been gathering in a range of pumpkins and squashes. Most of our pumpkins are for the Taste of Autumn celebrations 17-20th October http://rhs.org.uk/WhatsOn/gardens... 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..