Wisley Mission For Plant Lovers
Sun Herald
Sunday August 15, 2004
Garden fan Andreas Heimann makes his own floral arrangement in Surrey.
BRITAIN looks great in summer with hanging baskets everywhere and fabulous formal gardens. Tourists looking for a floral treat should head to Wisley, one of England's best-loved formal gardens, which features a blend of park landscape, expansive water basins, luscious colourful flower beds, herbs and forest. Situated in Woking, Surrey, south of London, the Wisley Garden complex is a favourite among both gardeners and tourists. It is run by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), which this year celebrates its 200th anniversary. The society, supported by its 300,000 members, promotes British gardening heritage with shows, lectures and techniques. Wisley Garden comprises 97 hectares, the largest garden complex run by the RHS and "one of the best in the world", says its well-named curator Jim Gardener. At first glance Wisley looks like a massive park with water basins apparently built just to give the water lilies the space they need to grow. Gardeners can be seen carefully removing foliage from the water surface or trimming plants with minor-sized scissors. Such care for the plant life is visible everywhere in Wisley Garden and this is one of the reasons it is so popular. "We have some 700,000 visitors a year," says Bernard Boardman, head of the Floral Ornamental Department and just one of the 50 gardeners working in Wisley Garden. Boardman, dressed in a straw hat and cargo pants with many pockets, has been part of the team for 15 years. He loves the variety offered by the garden. "There are vegetable gardens, glasshouses with plants from the alps and so many different roses that I don't even know how many," he says. The herbal garden with its monk's hood, St John's wort, thyme, rosemary and oregano places a different emphasis, just like the fruit orchards. "We have about 500 different apple trees," Boardman says. The property was donated to the society in 1903 by Sir Thomas Hanbury, himself an enthusiastic gardener. The precondition was that scientific gardening research should also be done at Wisley Garden, and that has emerged as its great fortune. Many of the visitors just like to smell the roses or take a picnic under the huge pine or oak trees. But the real garden enthusiasts like to come because Wisley is a centre of knowledge. The library stocks the world's largest collection of garden literature. The main building houses the School of Horticulture where even longtime garden enthusiasts can take home many a new idea. For more information see www.rhs.org.uk or www.visitbritain.com.au.
© 2004 Sun Herald
