I Ended The Last Pot With A Question,

if you ate a different variety of apple in an apple pie every day of the week, 

how many months would it take you to sample every variety of apple? this may surprise you, 192 months! yes it would take you 16 years to eat a different variety of apple every day, back to Wisley, some of the herbs that are grown here,

soft fruit in the form of strawberries,

and being kept under glass,

figs,

just one of the many varieties,

Steve and myself climbed the to the top of the hill,

I made a couple of panoramas, looking away from,

and towards the main glasshouse,

and there it is in the distance,

we had lost the girls, but with giggles from them they were not difficult to find!

Diana desperately trying,

not to fall out of an apple tree,

an apple flower,

I had to have a pose,

so many trees, and these just the apples,

there were almost as many pear trees as well,

a new café is being built, looking at the building it will hopefully be ready for when the lockdown ends,

we stumbled on a bed of bluebells, 

lots of them,

so a couple of poses,

it was then,

Steve and myself left the girls,

to look at the bonsai and alpines section,

the alpine house closed,

but there were still,

plenty to look at outside,

a panorama of one of the alpine beds and the alpine house,

although locked,

looking through the windows,

we could see,

what was inside,

behind the greenhouse there was another alpine garden,

with walls decked with plants,

some I recognized as succulents,

but for the vast majority,

I did not have a clue,

as to what they were called,

could this be edelweiss of the song? absolutely not as it happens, 

as with most plant groups there are so many of them,

and so many different types,

especially if you factor in other plants that favour an alpine habitat,

a last look inside one of the alpine houses,

and it was time for our lunch,

behind us a wall of alpines,

in front a bottle of bubbly,

easy does it, I do not want the cork flying away,

success!

the view from our seat,

lunch over we walked back to the start of the rockery,

to the beginning of the bonsai display,

on both sides of the avenue,

we started with rocks and a really low growing pine/conifer, literately just inches from the ground,

the colours of the acers just amazing,

as were the shapes,

of the miniature trees,

this Japanese maple, (acer buergerianum), absolutely stunning, but nothing like the tree it is, without being trained into a bonsai,

the same for this Japanese larch, (Larix kaempferi),

so many trees to look at,

each unique, 

in its shape,

another Japanese maple, (acer buergerianum), 

I love this forest look,

this Japanese maple, (acer buergerianum), growing over a rock,

the trunk on this tree looking almost dead,

split down the middle,

almost to its root stock, amazing,

looking down from the bonsai display, 

and to the right,

and then there they were,

the girls joining us,

we made our way back,

to near where Steve and myself were sitting,

taking a few photographs,

on the way,

a panorama looking down,

the girls taking a rest,

by one of the mini alpine gardens,

the girls decided to stay there, Steve and myself went for a walk,

and found ourselves in a circular display,

with a fountain in the middle,

around it a display of palms,

and other sub-tropical plants,

we passed another hill on our right,

and entered the area given over to rhododendrons,

and acers,

as well as camellias,

everywhere we looked, 

huge splashes of colour,

interspaced with seats,

and quiet walkways,

and then I got fooled, I thought it was the giant or Chilean rhubarb as it is known, (Gunnera mainicata), 

but I was so wrong, it was not G. mainicata, 

the plant was in fact Gunnera tinctoria,

similar, but not quite the same as this is a smaller growing species,

both however share the same wickedly spined stems which are really formidable as the plant grows,

a real beauty,

rhododrendron hatsu-giri,

and now a Japanese rose as it is sometimes known, this one, camellia japonica Anna M Page, stunning,

with its tumbling flowers,

another rhododendron,

putting on such a great display,

to the side of which another,

was hiding a quiet place to sit,

we continued our walk,

passing so many more plants in flower,

like this one,

we were now coming to the end of this area,

unlike our visit to Coombe Gardens, here the rhododendrons and camellias were really in flower,

what a nice treat to find them in flower, it really was, I am stopping here, for the third post about our visit to Wisley just click on to the Next Post button at the bottom right of this post.