Surprisingly Wisley is my favorite garden in England
The Rock Garden at Wisley is unparallelled. Photos by Doug Oster
Before I arrived in England I never heard of Wisley Gardens. Even though I saw the Chelsea Flower Show, Hampton Court and Kew Gardens, seeing Wisley was almost a religious experience.
This is a garden for the trowel and shovel set, gardeners who spend there days digging, weeding, planning and more.
We only had a few hours to explore these pristine gardens, but each area offered something different.
When I got lost among the winding trails filled with rhododenrons, azaleas and other plants of Battleston Hill East I ran into two of the gardeners who tend to this expansive and remarkable woodland garden. I had walked for a half hour in awe of the plants in their prime. "Do they have anything like this in the states, they asked. I paused for a second and simply said, "no, there's nothing like this anywhere."
I hate leaving a garden like Wisley without seeing everything, but sometimes the travel gods require a return trip.
Someday I'll be back here and will spend the entire day, at my leisure discovering the nuances of this wonderful garden ... I can't wait!
For the first time we were greeted with England's famous wet weather. I loved it, this mallard did too.
One of the beautiful combinations were this pink magnolia blooming among purple cammasia.
Wisley houses the national collection of heather plants.
I walked to the very edges of the garden to explore the Plants for Bugs exhibit I saw this old bench sitting among English bluebells. The bench looks out towards a fast moving creek.





















