My Garden

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..

Trials of outdoor carnations and chrysanthemums take place every year at Wisley. It's a long standing tradition and even after so many years fine new varieties are still being recognised and receiving the Award of Garden Merit . The latest awards have just been confirmed. Although attracting a fervent... Read more..

Cauliflowers are not the easiest vegetable to grow but they are amongst the relatively few vegetables that can be grown to cut in late autumn and winter. And fresh food from the garden at that time of year is always a treat so this cauliflower trial, recently ended, was especially useful. Twenty eight... Read more..

You can now follow me on the micro-blogging service Twitter at http://twitter.com/Graham_Rice ! This will help me let you know when new posts go up here at my RHS Trials and Awards blog as well as at my RHS New Plants blog and my Transatlantic Plantsman blog . And I’ll occasionally bring you other news... Read more..

Tall Bearded Irises are amongst the most dramatic and colourful of perennials so the very best of them must be really impressive. And they are. The RHS Iris Sub Committee - yes, there's a sub committee just for irises - has recently had its latest awards ratified and three Tall Bearded Irises performed... Read more..