Ian Trought

As July draws to a close, here are a few clips from the glasshouse borders @rhswisley. Plants include Echinacea purpurea, Echinops ritro ‘Veitch’s Blue’, Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Rosea’, Solidago, Veronicastrum and Gaura lindheimeri. Lots of bees and butterflies about too . . . #july #julygarden #plantstagram #gardenreel #gardenreels #gardenersofinstagram #ilovemyjob #horticulture #gardening #gardeninspiration #gardenlove #pollinators #pollinatorgarden

Day 2 of posting “stuff I like” to cheer up my feed. I’ve decided to try and theme the posts so today here is a selection of (mostly) annual #cutflowers. Most of these I’ve grown from direct sown seed down at my allotment. It’s a good growing challenge and I’m yet to meet someone who isn’t happy when they get a bunch of flowers :) I’ve learnt quite a bit growing these over the last few years in no particular order here are a few things I’ve found out: 🌼 - wait for the ground to warm up before sowing, there’s a massive temptation to get started sowing in spring as early as possible but the plants know when the right time is to grow 🌼 - try not to sow the whole packet, that way if they fail (especially if you’ve sown too early) then you can try again 🌼 - some things just do better when they’re self sown, I’ve had an amazing patch of scabious this year which were all self sown. It’s good to get to know your seedlings so you can weed around self sowers 🌼 - pinch the tops out for bushier sturdier plants (especially cosmos but some sunflowers too) 🌼 - if you can’t grow something from seed then it’s absolutely fine to buy small plants, all my sweet peas come from @bandq_uk as I never seem to get the seeds through the late winter 🌼 - keep picking, picking, picking. It encourages more flowers 🌼 - invite other people to pick 🌼 - leave the seedheads and plants even after they’ve finished flowering, they’re great for wildlife (and next years self seeders) 🌸 - let me know if you want an ident for any of the varieties in this post and I’ll try and remember!

This is absolutely my least favourite time of the year in the garden. I’m not a fan of the short days or the gloomy grey damp days. I find that after the shortest day I can often find more garden related things to be cheerful about, I’m not sure if it’s just psychological that the days are getting longer but I think the garden responds to the longer days quite quickly. So, to cheer up my feed over the Christmas period I’m going to stop trying to post “things I see day to day” and just post “stuff I like!” - it’ll be a collection of plants and places hopefully with each post along a theme. So, first “stuff I like” post - is dedicated to the beautiful shrub - Stachyurus. Stachyurus is the only genus in the family Stachyuraceae (default guess for a plant ident!) they’re deciduous / semi evergreen shrubs that are native to the Himalayas and eastern Asia. They have pendant racemes of 4-petalled flowers which appear before the leaves. In this post we’ve got 1, Stachyurus ‘Rubriflorus’, 2, Stachyurus praecox and 3/4, Stachyurus salicifolius. S. praecox is the first to flower and lights up the garden in February / March. I love the pink tinge to the flowers on S. ‘Rubriflorus’ (spotted at the brilliant @the.garden.house) and would love to have one of these in my garden although getting hold of one will be a challenge! Also quite rare is the last one in this post - Stachyurus salicifolius, this is semi evergreen and looks beautiful in the frost (last photo) and the emerging foliage is great in the spring

While I’ve been busy organising to move to Devon the garden has been quietly moving through the seasons. A couple of shrubs that to me indicate that winter is well underway and that spring will not be too far away are flowering. These are Chimonanthus praecox (praecox meaning early) and Daphne bholua, both super fragrant shrubs which I always love at this time of year #chimonanthus #winterflowers #gardening #wintergarden

#plantoftheweek this week is definitely Halesia carolina. Right now it has these amazing four winged fruit which have definite bat vibes. Back in May (2nd picture) there were beautiful white bell flowers. There is a small Halesia carolina growing by the Oudolf landscape but the best ones at Wisley are in Oakwood and a good multi stemmed one by Clear Lake. Commonly known as Carolina silverbell this is a good small tree for acid / neutral soils #carolinasilverbell #halesia #gardening #gardenplants

Heading inside the glasshouse @rhswisley for some colour, there is a collection of hibiscus flowering in the tropical section and this one is my favourite. I couldn’t find a label but the stunning grey / purple colour really stood out #hibiscus #tropical #tropicalflowers

Piet Oudolf says that brown is a color, too. I’ve learnt to appreciate a plant that dies well and this part of the @pietoudolf landscape @rhswisley has some of the best. The picture shows (from foreground) Aster ‘New Jersey Skies’, then Hylotelephium ‘Matrona’ and then Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Ha Ha Tonka’. I think that the @oxfordoak benches are blending in beautifully with the planting #gardening #gardenphotography #gardenphoto

Low autumn late afternoon light over the planting on the Oudolf Landscape @rhswisley. The tree to the left of this picture is Quercus ithaburensis subsp. macrolepis, it’s always the last to drop its leaves and since it’s still November the leaves are still green! #gardenphotography #gardening #rhswisley

Phlomis samia doesn’t just have beautiful flowers the seedheads are pretty good too! I shared the second picture of the flowers of Phlomis samia back in July and now we have these structured seedheads to enjoy. They’re less round than P. russeliana but give good long lasting interest and food for the birds during the cold weather #phlomis #seedheads #gardenersofinstagram

Eryngium × zabelii ‘Big Blue’ matching my fingers this morning! I’ve been really impressed with this Eryngium, it has held onto the blue colour really well. Next year there should be many more flowers as the plants (supplied by @future.plants) get more established, they should really enjoy RHS Wisley’s sandy soil #seaholly #eryngium #gardenersofinstagram

Agastache ‘Black Adder’ is one of my favourite plants. The seedheads are giving late autumn interest amongst the grasses (1st photo taken today), and just a few months ago it had these beautiful blue flowers (2nd photo from 12th July). Oh and the 🐝 love it too, also you can make a tea from its leaves - such a good plant! #plantsmakepeoplehappy #plantsofinstagram #plantsplantsplants

With colder temperatures on the way trying my best to enjoy the remaining colour in the garden, which includes the amazing dark blue fruit on Clerodendrum trichotomum, the harlequin glorybower #plantstagram #plantsofinstagram #plantsplantsplants