Wisley in the frost
I spent some time at Wisley on Tuesday (urgent errand in the bookshop), but made the time for a quick walk round the garden. [You needed to walk quickly, it was bitterly cold, even in the middle of the day.]
It has been a while since I used my compact camera, and the battery was completely exhausted, to the point where it had forgotten date, time, and all my settings. So the trip round the garden was a journey of discovery, finding all of the features I usually have set, and restoring them.
Sempervivum
The main interest in the garden was the wonderful patterns made by frost on familiar leaves and structures. It was this sempervivum that first prompted me to get my camera out in the cold.
Waldsteinia ternata
At the top of the rock garden, the strawberry leaves of Waldsteinia were outlined with frost.
Epimedium pubigerum
And epimedium leaves. The ones with the best combination of autumn colour and frost were out of camera range from the path.
Gaultheria species ?
Pieris japonica Prelude
Sand beds
Up towards the crevice garden now. The two sand beds have their winter covers on, to keep them dry, but I'm sure they don't keep the frost off in weather like this.
Arabis bryoides
In the crevice garden
Saxifraga
I'm not sure quite what this was - I couldn't see a label - but possibly Sax. pubescens ?
Unknown
Another plant I wasn't sure of from the crevices - possibly an Erysimum.
Polygala chamaebuxus grandiflorus
Rhododendron Wren
Moraea polystachya
A quick detour into the alpine house, for warmth as much as anything. Even in mid December there was plenty of bloom, though the flowers which want warmth to open (e.g. Oxalis) were all closed.
Massonia pustulata
One of Paul Cumbleton's specialities - looking magnificent.
Petrocosmea rosettifolia
I was surprised to photograph this with white flowers - I am sure I have seen it on other occasions with pale blue flowers.
Cyclamen rohlfsianum
I was amazed by the wine-red backs of the leaves. Is this always true of this cyclamen, or is this a particularly fine specimen ?
Zelkova serrata
Walking down past the bonsai, I thought it was interesting to see the structure of this deciduous Japanese tree.
Asarum europaeum
I think these leaves are Asarum europaeum. I couldn't find a label, and in the frost it is hard to be sure.
Saxifraga umbrosa
Heuchera
Spiny
I'm not sure what this is, but it is certainly not a cushion plant. What a wonderful foliage effect, towards the bottom of the rock garden.
Gunnera
I am always fascinated by the tents they make to protect the gunnera in winter (out of their own leaves). I imagine them inhabited by some small marsh-dwelling species of sentient, like something out of Star Wars.
Ponds
The ponds across the bottom of the rock garden were all frozen. No koi to see, or feed, now.
Bergenia
Camellia sasanqua Hugh Evans
On Battleston Hill, the ground was riddled with little holes and scuff marks where animals had been foraging, perhaps squirrels, since they were very much in evidence. A robin hopped down the path, and passed within 6 inches of my foot.
One camellia was in bloom already, covered with hundreds of small flowers roughly an inch and a half across.
Spiders' webs
Back home, I thought I had better check if there was anything worth a photo in my own garden. I think these will be the last webs the garden spiders make this year.
Geranium papuanum
The winter always finishes the top growth off this geranium, but it usually seems to start again in spring from the rootstock.
Armeria
Papaver
Androsace studiosorum
Douglasia vitaliana
Dead leaves
From one of the herbaceous perennial geraniums, and Iris sibirica.
Mallow
A mallow which seeds itself around gently, without becoming a nuisance (yet!).
Rosa The Fairy
This little rose always flowers until the middle of winter; I have photographed it before festooned in hoar frost, and with little hats of snow.
Well, I hope that will convince you all that it is still worth venturing out into the garden, to see what nature has done to your plants while you weren't looking.