On Friday lunchtime last week, I set off for Wisley to help setting up the show.  I wasn't due to meet up with the others, so I made a brief tour of parts of the garden, to photograph what the exhibitors would see the following day.  Unfortunately I didn't have time to wander as far as Battleston Hill, which was ablaze with rhododendrons and azaleas, or many other parts of the garden, including the main glasshouse, but I did visit the rock garden and the alpine houses, and a few other areas besides.

Camassia leichtlinii

I started out walking from the library down the new wisteria arches to Bowles Corner, and then across the top of the alpine meadow.  The pool of camassias which has always occupied the lawn between Bowles Corner and the Bonsai walk seems to be flowing over the crest of the hill, and threatening to pour down across the alpine meadow.

This path brings you to the top of the rock garden, with spectacular views across to the new glasshouse, and deep red peonies in the foreground.

Paeonia tenuifolia

I was a bit surprised to read a label saying P. carthalinica, but I read online that this is considered to be a synonym (or perhaps a pseudonym) for P. tenuifolia.

Paeonia peregrina

Next to the P. tenuifolia was this fabulous plant, rather surprisingly labelled P. peregrina which I have only ever seen in bright red.  Whatever it is, I thought this was lovely.

Phlox subulata

Walking down through the rock garden at this time of year, you are surrounded by large splashes of colour provided by Phlox subulata.

Veronica orientalis subsp orientalis

Another splash of spring colour.

Asphodelus

At the bottom of the hill, where my memory tells me there used to be large clumps of P. tenuifolia, there is now a dryland landscape populated by large plants of one of the Asphodelus species.  There are several similar species and no labels to be seen. 

Azalea

At this point I remembered something, and turned right, back towards the walled garden.  In the edge of the oakwood, large blocks of magenta azaleas were in flower.

Paeonia rockii

In the sort of Mediterranean-style borders along the side of the walled garden, there is a huge bush of P. rockii, growing under, and set off by a wisteria.

The top corner of the walled garden has a semi-shaded bed, now full of Candelabra primulas.

Paeonia emodi

Just opposite was the real object of my diversion - a woodland bed next to the azaleas, full of P. emodi.

Back to the rock garden

Phlox subulata Emerald Cushion Blue

Climbing a different flight of steps, I encountered a cushion of blue phlox.

Rhododendron

The rhododendrons at the top of the rock garden were just at their best.

Podophyllum hexandrum var chinense

Just going over.

Ornithogalum

Under the oak tree at the top of the rock garden, with Polygonum in the background.

Surrey Group Posters

The board outside the alpine area has posters advertising the two local groups, and the show the following day.

Ramonda myconi

In the tufa wall around the alpine house, the ramondas are thriving and flowering well.

Pseudofumaria alba

In a sunnier situation on the walls around the alpine house.

Aloe humilis

Is flowering in one of the alpine houses.

Lewisia columbiana Starburst

In the main alpine house, pots of lewisias have started to appear.

Arisaema

No label on this, but it is similar to my photos of A. ringens.

Resnova megaphylla

A summer-flowering bulb from South Africa.

Calochortus kennedyi

Fabulous, just fabulous.  Worth the trip on its own, even if the camera can't cope with the colour saturation.

Calochortus tolmiei

One of the fascinating, hairy flowered calochortus.

Lupinus varius subsp orientalis

A lovely clean blue, like Salvia patens.

Crevice garden

Heading out of the alpine house now, moving towards the Hillside Event Centre where the show was being staged, past the crevice garden.

Petrocoptis pyrenaica

Or is it Saponaria ocymoides ?  I have never known how to tell them apart, and sadly no label.

Armeria pseudoarmeria Ballerina Pink

And Ballerina Red in the background.

Phlox subulata

More nice cushions of phlox here.

Aloe humilis

On top of the crevice garden, this aloe seems to have survived the winter in the open remarkably well.

Allium

Walking across the lawn towards the Hillside Event Centre, I discovered that the area behind the covered seating at the top of the rose garden, which is always a sea of crocus in spring, has been planted with allium en masse - it looks very impressive and I spent a long time trying to capture an impression of it.

Camassia leichtlinii

Moving across the lawn, I came across another mass planting, this time of Camassia.

At this point I collected a really good cup of tea from 'The Honest Sausage', and wandered over to the bench outside the Hillside Event Centre, to nap in the sun, until the arrival of the van from Pershore.

The following day, some of the exhibitors who did manage to venture into the garden, before the rain got heavy, were disappointed at the lack of highly skilled and experienced gardeners, and the planting style adopted in the rock garden - 'municipal parks department', and 'roundabout planting' - both complaints about the large patches of the same cultivar.  But I think it is easy to under-estimate the difficulty that the public footfall imposes on the plantings possible, and I was pleased to find some fine and photogenic plants, without even visiting my favourite parts of the garden, and colourful plantings I would be pleased to have in my own garden, if only it were large enough.