Almost a month since my last post which was not intentional but unavoidable. With the dodgy Internet and a trip to a plant seminar in Midhurst I have unfortunately been very busy.
At the start of October I attended a plant seminar in Midhurst with fellow horticultural trainees from around the United Kingdom. The purpose of this seminar was to meet other people at the start of their careers passionate about plants. A part of this course was visits to 3 gardens -RHS Wisley, National Trust's Woolbeding and West Dean Gardens- and attending evening lectures and plant talks.
On the first evening every trainee was given the opportunity to talk about a plant of their choice. It was interesting to hear the different approaches that the trainees had taken to the talk. One trainee chose to talk about the Sequoiadendron giganteum (Giant Sequoia) planted in the Garden she was working in and the history behind that particular plant. Another trainee came at it with a different angle talking about the botanical significance Araucaria araucana (Monkey Puzzle) bringing in roasted seeds for everyone to try. I chose to speak about Rubus biflorus (Two-flowered raspberry), a tall suckering shrub with white stems, and it's uses as a specimen plant within garden design specifically winter gardens.
RHS WISLEY
https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/wisley
I was looking forward to visiting RHS Wisley most at the start of my trip and it did not disappoint. Although I spent the whole day, there was not enough time appreciate the whole site. I was fortunate to be taken around on a tour by a set of students who were being accessed on their tour guiding skills that same day. They hid their nervousness well and were very knowledgeable about the garden as a whole. The students did their best to give us an idea of the type of work they do there and the history behind each part of the garden in the limited time we had.
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| Bonsai Garden at RHS Wisley |
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| Musa basjoo growing outside at RHS Wisley. |
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| Arid glasshouse at RHS Wisley |
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| Experimental box replacement hedging at RHS Wisley. |
NATIONAL TRUST'S WOOLBEDING
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/woolbeding-gardens
This garden is a great example of modern gardening. I loved having the chance to visit as it was unexpected welcome surprise. Given to the National Trust in 1957, Woolbeding is a fairly young garden being lovingly planned and redesigned in the 1980s and 1990s by Lanning Roper and the Bannermans. The gardens offer a curious range of sites such as the orangery, the follies and the west borders. These features are continuously redesigned to maintain the attraction of visiting Woolbeding and to experiment with different plantings.
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| Folly at NT Woolbeding |
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| Statue within the water garden at Woolbeding. |
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| Flint sculpture and fountain at Woolbeding. |
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| Border next to the glasshouse at Woolbeding. |
WEST DEAN
https://www.westdean.org.uk/gardens
West Dean was taken into the care of Sarah Wain and her husband in the 1980s and under their close management and supervision the garden has transformed into beautiful College grounds where horticultural students can visit can gain experience kitchen gardening ad glasshouse gardening. The main feature of West Dean is its large kitchen garden where produce is grown for show or a large scale and small scale home gardening. Adjacent is the apple orchard where trees are grown in various ornamental apple training.
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| Fruit training at West Dean. |
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| River overflow gardens. |
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| Glasshouses at West Dean with 60s retro theme. |
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| Kitchen Garden at West Dean |
It was wonderful to visit all of these gardens and I am looking forward to visiting them again to see how they have developed and changed. My personal favourite of the bunch was Woolbeding because I greatly admired the homely and loved feel they have managed to achieve with their gardening and friendly staff.
Thanks for reading,
Curiously Muddy.
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