RHS Garden Wisley
Just 10 miles from central London lies Wisley, 'Britain's best loved garden'. There is no historic house, epic landscaping, or gimmicky exhibition here, it is a working garden, run by the Royal Horticultural Society, a place to go if you love flowers and plants, a place to be inspired.
One of the world’s greatest gardens, Wisley was donated to the Royal Horticultural Society in 1904 as an experimental garden. Today there is a permanent staff of 370 including 90 gardeners working with its diverse and unique collection. The Wisley laboratory is a focal point incorporating the school of gardening. Every year 34 students become Masters of Horticulture here.
Wisley is divided up into sections to concentrate on different aspects of horticulture. For example, the Central Area focuses on borders and perennials, the Trials Field – new plants and vegetables, and the Model Gardens are designed with the domestic garden in mind. Add to this an alpine meadow, arboretum, azalea garden, bamboo walk, conifer lawn, fruit field, pinetum, rockpool, tropical glasshouse, vegetable garden, vineyard, wall garden, wilderness, etc, and you can see why, despite its acidic soil and infamous frosts, it is said: ‘If it can grow at Wisley it can grow anywhere.’