RHS Garden Wisley is a garden run by the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ( ...

in Wisley,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, south of London. It is one of five gardens run by the society, the others being Harlow Carr, Hyde Hall, Rosemoor, and Bridgewater (which opened on 18 May 2021). Wisley is the second most visited paid entry garden in the United Kingdom after the

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. An internationally important botanical research and education institution, it employs 1,100 ...

, with 1,232,772 visitors in 2019.

History

Wisley was founded by Victorian businessman and RHS member George Ferguson Wilson, who purchased a 60-acre (243,000 m²) site in 1878. He established the "Oakwood Experimental Garden" on part of the site, where he attempted to "make difficult plants grow successfully". Wilson died in 1902 and Oakwood (which was also known as Glebe FarmBrent Elliott: The Royal Horticultural Society, A History 1804-2004. Published by Phillimore & Co. Ltd. .) was purchased by Sir Thomas Hanbury, the creator of the celebrated garden La Mortola on the Italian Riviera. He gave the Wisley site to the RHS in 1903. Directors have included; * Frederick Chittenden (1919–1931) * Robert Lewis Harrow (1931–1946) * John Gilmour (1946–1951) * Harold Roy Fletcher (1951–1954) * Francis Philip Knight (1954–1969) * Christopher Brickell (1969–1985) * Peter Joseph Maudsley (1985–1987) * Philip McMillan Browse

Description

Wisley is now a large and diverse garden covering 240 acres (971,000 m²). In addition to numerous formal and informal decorative gardens, several glasshouses and an extensive

arboretum An arboretum (plural: arboreta) in a general sense is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, ma ...

, it includes a trials field where new cultivars are assessed. The original laboratory, for both scientific research and training, was originally opened in 1907, but proved inadequate. It was expanded and its exterior was rebuilt during World War I. It was designated a Grade II

Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

in 1985. Visitor numbers increased significantly from 5,250 in 1905, to 11,000 in 1908, 48,000 in the late 1920s, and 170,000 in 1957, and passed 400,000 in 1978, 500,000 in 1985, and 600,000 in 1987. In April 2005,

Alan Titchmarsh Alan Fred Titchmarsh HonFSE (born 2 May 1949) is an English gardener, broadcaster, TV presenter, poet, and novelist. After working as a professional gardener and a gardening journalist, he established himself as a media personality through a ...

cut the turf to mark the start of construction of the Bicentenary Glasshouse. This major new feature covers three quarters of an acre (3,000 m²) and overlooks a new lake built at the same time. It is divided into three main planting zones representing desert, tropical and temperate climates. It was budgeted at £7.7 million and opened on 26 June 2007. A £20 million Welcome Building including a larger restaurant, cafe and visitor facilities was opened by Alan Titchmarsh on 10 June 2019.

Features

Wisley has a large number of features, including the following: *RHS Hilltop - The home of Gardening Science *Wildlife Garden, Wellbeing Garden & World Food Garden *Glasshouse with desert, tropical and temperate climates, and with special topical displays *Clore Learning Centre *Alpine houses *Laboratory *Library *Plant information centre *Trials field (where plants are submitted for trial, allowing some to be awarded the prestigious

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

) *Fruit field, featuring large numbers of apples, pears and other fruit grown in various forms. *Rock garden and alpine meadow on a sloping site *Wild garden *Walled garden *Canal with water lilies in season *Battleston Hill, which includes many rhododendrons and azaleas *Rose borders and mixed borders *Jubilee arboretum *Pinetum *National heather collection Visitor facilities include cafés and restaurant, car parks, plant centre, etc.

Gallery

File:Orchid (8644492525).jpg,

Orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Along with the Asteraceae, they are one of the two largest families of flowering ...

in the glasshouse, 2013 File:Spring Crocus In Flower RHS Wisley Garden Surrey UK.jpg, Spring

Crocus ''Crocus'' (; plural: crocuses or croci) is a genus of seasonal flowering plants in the family Iridaceae (iris family) comprising about 100 species of perennials growing from corms. They are low growing plants, whose flower stems remain undergr ...

In Flower, January 2013 Image:Alpine House at Wisley 5722.JPG, In one of the alpine houses at Wisley Image:RHS Wisley trial fields 1240R.jpg, (Old) trials field at Wisley showing some of the hundreds of varieties assessed for the

Image:Wisley Gardens laboratory 020.JPG, The laboratory File:Wisley lab and tree 15297r.jpg, ''

Quercus robur ''Quercus robur'', commonly known as common oak, pedunculate oak, European oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe west of the Caucasus. It is widel ...

'' beside the laboratory File:Butterfly lovers pavilion 5366r.jpg, The Butterfly Lovers Pavilion File:RHSGlasshouse.JPG, The Wisley Glasshouse

References

Bibliography

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External links

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1987 Advertisement for Director
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhs Garden, Wisley Wisley Botanical gardens in England Gardens in Surrey Greenhouses in the United Kingdom Borough of Guildford Wisley Woodland gardens 1878 establishments in England