Off the hook

It was one of those mornings. The sun was shining brightly and beckoning to us to come out and play – meanwhile, indoors, the phone didn’t seem to stop ringing. Any attempt at an early getaway was thwarted.

Eventually we did get out, however, though our destination proved to be a little overcast.

We had head for the RHS gardens at Wisley – membership means free admission so it makes for an inexpensive outing.

With Spring sprung the various early blooms and blossoms were out, but many of the trees and shrubs were still showing only faintest signs of life. During a previous trip we had learnt the treasures of the new greenhouses so headed in that direction.

The major architectural plants had not changed, but many of the individual specimens were different – possibly through new planting, but more likely because of the time of year. Whatever the reason, some of the colours were fantastic and the variation in the planting as you move through the greenhouse was quite enthralling.

As you move on through the from the arid planting you arrive in a more tropical or rainforest zone. This proved interesting as the Gorse Fox’s glasses and the camera lens steamed up. It took a while for things to settle and full vision to be restored. Once it was the Gorse Fox was confronted with a huge moth resting on a leaf in front of him. It seemed perfectly happy to just sit and be admired, and the flow of human traffic seemed to be of no interest or threat.

We moved on and found our way to the restaurant for a light lunch before looping back towards the rockery and the upper terraces. GF has spoken in the past of the poor design of the rockery, so won’t go in to detail again. Despite his reservations, there are some good sections and careful selection of your viewpoint can offer some nice sights.

As we wandered around it was clear that they are doing a great deal of work on the gardens and they will be very different in a couple of months… but at the moment they are a little sparse.

As we neared the end of the visit we were amused to see a pheasant pecking at the freshly sown seed. He, however, seemed even more interested in us!