I've wanted to visit RHS Wisley for years! Last week I attended Futurescape held at nearby Sandown Park so thought it a perfect opportunity to make it a 2-day horticultural mini-break with my friend The Bearded Botanist, who also works in the industry!...you might have gathered by his name!
We had a fantastic day at Futurescape meeting with existing and new suppliers, networking and listening to insightful seminars. It's often difficult to take time out, even at this time of year, to attend events but so worth it! There's so much inspiration and new products coming onto the market all the time. I love the landscape industry for this!
In the evening I watched my friend pick up a "30 under 30 Award" as one of the next generation in the industry...I hung out with the youth for a little while and pretended I was still under 30, ha! Next we watched the Summit Debate discussing our commitment to the environment as part of the landscape industry which was a really interesting, thought provoking topic with lots of questions from the floor. Finally, we were lucky enough to enjoy the Summit Dinner for more networking a delicious food! Thank you Futurescape and ProLandscaper Magazine.
The next day we went to Wisley!
The morning was bright, cold and dry and we arrived at about 11am. I loved the areas around the entrance and cafe. The simple avenues of trees in gravel and vast areas of Dutch clay pavers were beautiful. There were also lovely raised beds formed from corten steel and cute planters of succulents beneath the signage.
There was a great sculpture exhibition on at the time of our visit and the pieces looked fantastic within the gardens.
My favourite planting was, of course, Piet Oudolf's borders around the glasshouse. I was hoping his signature style and ornamental grasses would still be looking good and they were! The autumnal shades looked stunning against his structural curves of Beech hedging. I will return during summer at some point I'm sure but I loved the planting so much, especially how effective the buffs and burnt oranges were and the simple, structure of the seed heads.
There is loads to see at Wisley and even in November we spent 5.5hours there, so well worth a visit. I took so many photos so keep an eye on my instagram for more.
Thank you Wisley for a brilliant days, we will be back in the summer to see how you look then :)