Wintertime at RHS Wisley Gardens

Winter at Wisley

Its winter time and Wisley Gardens has taken on a new look, with the bare structured bones of the gardens and its borders being revealed, it has turned into a winter wonderland! The colour of the sky offset by the lush grass acts as a backdrop to a number of winter marvels which in our increasingly temperate climate in South East Australia, we just don’t get to experience.

Christmas has passed and the season is reaching its peak with sweetly scented, spider shaped Hamamelis sp. (Witch hazel) flowers being borne along the bare stems, they are real show stoppers having only just shed their vivid Autumn colours. The shorter days and low sun slung on the horizon sheds light in a fashion that promotes shadows, silhouettes and reflections in the ponds, bringing warmth to the plants that are covered white with frozen moisture in the air. The orange-brown flaking bark of Acer griseum, vibrant coloured stems of coppiced Salix sp. and Cornus sp. and the pink and orange fruits of Euonymus sp. all add interest to a season which for many find dull and depressing; there is plenty of evidence that the garden is a living system just waiting for the right conditions to explode into leaf and bloom.

The extents to which gardeners go to save their precious plants over the winter are amazing. Here in the gardens, tents and straw/wire structures keep the growing tips warm and cosy of a multitude of plants (such as Cordyline and Ensete) that are not fully frost hardy.

Life as a Plantsman

Recently I attended a Kew Garden lecture by Roy Lancaster on his life as a Plantsman. Roy Lancaster is a highly respected member of the industry here in the UK, introducing a number of plant species into cultivation during his career. His enthusiasm is outstanding and highly inspiring to young members of the industry. So one may ask, what is a Plantsman? A plantsman as described by Mr. Lancaster falls under the 3 P’s – Plants, People and Places. As a Plantsman, he went on to describe the prerequisites of what it takes to be a ‘good gardener’:

• Patience – there are not many plants that are on the same time scale as humans, and as such be prepared to wait 20 years for something to flower!
• Sense of adventure – the need to see things growing in the wild - ‘’I want to see for myself’’
• Sense of curiosity – a curious mind – question everything – where, when and how?

Some of my most memorable moments so far demonstrates such characteristics; the feeling I had when climbing the high mountains in Switzerland and nearly treading on a small stand of Eidelweiss and being taken off the beaten track on Mt. Kinabalu in Borneo to view Nepenthes sp. growing wild. These were enthralling moments full of my own nerdy excitement – I love plants! We must not forget the origins of the plants we work with each day, and never take them for granted. So get out there, even if it is your local nature reserve, and view plants in their habitat!

Another interesting point is the way Mr. Lancaster continued to promote the fact that being a good gardener really is something to aspire to. I believe being a ‘gardener’ is an old term and I know that little respect is often obtained when asked ‘…and what do you do?’ I think this is why the term horticulturalist is often favoured, as it is a more professional term, which given natural succession, probably is the appropriate term for many of us in industry – we are horticulturalists. We hold a vast bank of knowledge and experience and as such should be seen as those to turn to when any issue arises from plants in both the natural and artificial landscape.