Our Village Flooded!


Oh my goodness, we had one massive storm in the night followed by a second storm in the morning. With the surrounding fields saturated the excess water poured into the only road into the village! Unfortunately the autumn leaf fall was blocking the drains and so the inevitable happened! The only route in and out of the village was flooded, blocking only the toughest and tallest 4x4 vehicles. In fact after I videoed this even there was even more rain in the evening bringing the depth to approximately 3ft and one of the neighbours cars stalled in the middle of it entirely blocking the road for anyone at our end of the road! Anyway, by the next day it was all sorted and we were free. This is my story....

England Best Garden: RHS Wisley (ALMOST) Full December Walk-Round


Join us as we visit our last garden of the year and of course it is my favourite English garden - RHS Wisley, to me the home of modern British horticulture. Of course I love Kew too, but it is truly a butt-pain to visit, unless the Royal gardens can provide me with a special parking permit. Anyway, we spent the best part of the day with a camera and the key parts have been stitched together for this extended video. You may have caught one or two of the of the videos we have published that are included here but this time you can just sit and watch the whole experience in one go without trying to find all of the other parts.

If you would like to see more content like this then pop over to our YouTube channel 'Walking Talking Gardeners'. It is also free and you will have the pick of any of the videos we have published over the past year. While you are there why not support our channel by subscribing? It is absolutely free and you can be notified of whenever we publish a new video by clicking the notification 'bell' button.


Tropical Gardens UK: Arid Glasshouse During Wisley 'Glow' Gardens Light ...


During our last visit to RHS Wisley UK, we were fortunate to be there as they were setting up the large light displays for their 'Wisley Glow' season. Although not quite dark enough for the full effect (which we may well have not been unable to film on our camera), conditions were suitable to get at least a hint of it while inside the arid glasshouse. Hopefully we will be popping back to watch the whole display at the end of the year and maybe have some suitable footage to share with you. If you think that the glow even is just in the arid glasshouse then you may be surprised to learn that is is in fact almost across the entire gardens - including fire and fountain displays. 

Wisley Glow opening times for 2022 are from 17 November – 8 January from 4pm – 9pm. Just be aware that there is no Glow event 24–26 December.


Alternatives to box plant hedging - 'Buxus sempervirens'


Brought over by the Romans almost a thousand years ago, Box plants had proven to be extremely robust and versatile right up until the past decade or so when the calamitous introductions of Box blight and Box caterpillar moth occured. With few effective methods of control, arguably the best option is to no longer plant Buxus sempervirens and instead consider alternative species and cultivars in its place. 

The problem with both of these inflictions' is that an awful of of damage has happened before the problem is identifies. Then secondly, it is difficult or even illegal without a commercial spraying licence for the man-in-the-street to purchase any of the control methods.

This is where the magnificent plant boffins at RHS Wisley come in. They have dedicated a large garden in the grounds dedicated to the possible alternatives to box hedging, and in doing so have created what could be called a masterpiece of mixed topiary.

So if you would like to see see more content like this then why not consider subscribing to our YouTube channel 'Walking Talking Gardeners'. It is absolutely free and you can be notified of all off our future videos by clicking onto the notification bell icon.

Tropical Gardens UK: Walled Exotic Garden, Wisley- December 2022


Back in the day, the exotic walled garden here at Wisley was the only specifically designed display of cold hardy, exotic effect plants. However this has since been superseded by the massive and highly impressive exotic garden further out in to the grounds - one of our favourite garden displays here. That being said the exotic walled garden is an absolute jewel in the crown at Wisley and should not be missed. Why, because it is a lesson in understatement by implementing a highly competent design, clever planting and extremely high standards and attention to detail across the board!

So why not join English Horticulturist Simon and Lorna and they walk around this space pointing out the key features and plants that catch their attention.

If you would like to see more content like this then why not subscribe to our YouTube channel 'walking Talking Gardeners'? It is absolutely free and by clicking onto the notification bell you can be informed whenever we post a new video.

Tropical Gardens UK: How to Protect and Overwinter (Winterize) Tree Ferns


If you have visited a premium garden centre recently then two things may have caught your attention. The first would be a stunning display of tree ferns of possibly more than one species. The second would be the phenomenal price of these plants which have at least quadrupled in the past ten years making any tree fern specimen likely to be the most valuable plant in you garden.

Now living in the UK, and even the mildest regions of the UK, tree ferns can experience weather far too cold to maintain their condition and in extreme conditions can kill the crown. So to avoid killing off these beautiful plants it is not good enough to give it a quick wrap in fleece, you need to make sure that the crown is adequately protected and the canopy protected well enough that it is still viable come the spring. Of course, the further north you live the colder it gets and you will need to provide even more cold protection.

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Tropical Grardens UK: Wisley Exotic December Walk-round


Yes the weather is freezing. Yes it is the middle of December, but unlike our own garden which is sited in the milder climates of the south coast, the Exotic garden at RHS Wisley still has structure, seasonal colour, and a number of surprises that we didn't expect to see! 

The Fuschias and Abutilons are still in flower and despite a number of the key plants being wrapped in anticipation of winter frosts many of the specimen plants still have excellent ornamental value. In fact, now that some of the stock has died back or have been cut back to ground level other plants which were hidden in the greenery are now showing the splendour - in particular we found an amazing and extremely rare variegated Trachycarpus palm!

So after following us around the gardens here at Wisley, why not follow our YouTube channel 'Waling Talking Gardeners' by clicking the 'SUBSCRIBE' button. It is absolutely free and you can be notified whenever we publish a new video by clicking onto the notification bell icon.


Tropical Garden: How to Overwinter (winterize) Japanese Hardy Banana - M...


The freezing depth are becoming ever nearer and so any gardener worth their salt will have winter protection on their mind. On such plant in need of at least some winter protection (even in the mildest regions of the UK) is the brilliant Musa basjoo - commonly known as the 'Hardy Banana' and 'Japanese Banana'.

While te hardy banana is considered root hardy, which mean the root system will tolerate temperatures down to -10 degree Celsius, the pseudo stem (truck) is less hardy and should be protected when freezing temperatures or hard frost are forecast. If the pseudostems are damaged in freezing conditions then luckily all is not lost as they will generally grow back through in the spring. However if you are aiming to achieve the impressive height that Musa basjoo pseudostems can attain then you will need to manage their winter protection so that they survive intact in order to add to the existing growth.

So in this video English horticulturist Simon explains the overwintering technique that is used at the Royal Horticultural Society gardens Wisley.

If you would like to see more content like this they why not consider subscribing to our YouTube channel 'Walking Talking Gardeners'.



Tropical Gardens UK: How to overwinter (winterize) Gunnera manicata - Gi...


Winter is here and a certain amount of cold management will need to be put in place for those plants which are not fully hardy in the UK. One such plant species are the magnificent Gunneras - in particular Gunnera manicata. In this video English horticulturist Simon explains a very simple method of how to protect the delicate crown which can easily be damaged by a hard frost.

Now you may be able to get away without frost protection on large, established specimens in the milder regions of the UK, but be aware that young plants, or specimens planted in the north of the country can be killed off by sustained hard frosts!

If you would like to see more content like this then why not consider subscribing to out YouTube channel 'Walking Talking Gardeners'. It is absolutely free and by clicking onto the notification bell icon you will be notified when we publish a new video.

Tropical Gardens UK: Victorian Cacti and Succulent collection - West Dea...


We wanted to visit the amazing, refurbished glasshouses at West Dean gardens near Chichester as they are among the best in the country as every time, we visit there is a surprise. Today is no exception as we can across this fantastic collection of specimen cacti and succulents temporarily displayed in one of their period Victorian lean-to glasshouses.

Join us as we walk though and point out any specimens which catch out attention. If you would like to see more content like this then why not check out the other videos on out YouTube channel - 'Walking Talking Gardeners'. You can subscribe for free and by licking the notification button you will be 'notified' when ever we publish a new video.

Historic Nymans Gardens: Full walk-round (including Exotic, Tropical Pla...


Nymans can be found  to the east of the village of Handcross, in West Sussex, England and is home to some wonderfully ornamental Edwardian pleasure gardens. In particular the alpine garden, herbaceous border and the exotc borders which is our personal favourite. So why not join us as we walk around through the gardens pointing out the plants and sites of interest.

If you would like to see more content like this then why not subscribe to our YouTube channel 'Walking Talking Gardeners'? It is absolutely free and by clicking the notification button you can be informed whenever we publish a new video.

Tropical Gardens UK: Exotic Garden November Walk-Round


Well, we have finally made the last walk-round video of the year and the shine has definitely come of of our once lovely tropical effect, exotic garden! However that us the reality of growing cold-hardy exotic plants. There is very little happening in the spring then you get an amazing summer and autumn before most of the stock runs out of steam.

So it time for a tidy up to keep things tidy for the winter, plus its a great time to come up with any plant moves to positions which will show them to their best.

Now come next March we will be planting up a new range of exotic plants to show you and hopefully have fews tasty morsels breaking through the soil which we can show you in a possibly the first new video of 2023!

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