Ivydene Gardens Mixed Borders in RHS Garden at Wisley Garden Design:
EAST BORDER of MIXED BORDERS in the Royal Horticultural Society Garden at Wisley:
Section 1 Part 1 with

Formal Style required in moving people from Entrance to outlying areas

Page Menus are below the Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn photos.

Winter. Photo taken on 4 January 2013 by Heather Kavanagh

Spring. Photo taken on 1 May 2013 by Heather Kavanagh

Early Summer. Photo taken on 1 July 2013 by Heather Kavanagh

Early Autumn. Photo taken on 19 September 2013 by Heather Kavanagh

Late Autumn. Photo taken on 23 November 2013 by Heather Kavanagh

Broad Garden Design - Formal Style required in moving people from Entrance to outlying areas

MIXED BORDERS in Royal Horticultural Society Garden at Wisley with my GARDEN DESIGN PAGES

Introduction

WINTER, SPRING, SUMMER WITH EARLY AND LATE AUTUMN SECTIONS OF WISLEY MIXED BORDERS
1-6 East Border
7-10 East Border
1-5 West Border
6-9 West Border

FOLIAGE COLOUR
.Black
.Blue
(o)Brown
.Bronze
(o)Green
(o)Grey
.Other
(o)Purple
(o)Red
(o)Variegated
(o)Variegated White
.Variegated Yellow
.White
.Yellow
.4 Season Colour

FLOWER COLOUR RANGE IN 71 PARTS OF MIXED BORDER DURING
May
June
July
August
September
October
November

7 Flower Colours per Month in Colour Wheel below.

Click on Black or White box in Colour of Month.

The overall garden plan of The Royal Society Garden ay Wisley is shown below (Part of the Visitor Map RHS Garden Wisley Summer 2012 Leaflet) with North being on the right hand side:-

The A3 road on the left joins the road at the bottom. This side road leads to the access road to the Car Parks at the bottom and from there to the Garden Entrance.

The thick burgundy coloured line in the map above and below is the suggested Wheelchair Route, so that most areas are accessable. The slabbed paths beside the lawn in the Mixed Borders would also tempt wheelchair users and their pushers.

The distribution throughout the 71 parts of the Mixed Borders of each flower from the

• Permanent Herbaceous Perennials, Bedding Plants and Other Permanent Plants

split into

• Blue, White, Yellow, Unusual, Red, Orange or Pink

is in each of these Month Pages

• May, June, July, August, September, October and November

Summary of the Mixed Border Planting Design and Garden Maintenance - including in tabular form - shows the number for each single colour and combinations of colours for each of these months and whether it is from the Permanent Herbaceous Perennial (See its Index Page), Bedding Plant (See its Index Page) or Other Permanent Plant (See Index in Flower Colours per Month) plant type.

See which of the 7 flower colours have been used for each of the 71 parts during 2013 in a table of colours.

From the Garden Entrance / Exit to

• past 15 (Laboratory) to 12 (Canal and Loggia), or to
• Conifer Lawn or to
• 2 (Mixed Borders) tends to be in Formal Style

leading to an Informal style in

• Battlestone Hill,
• Wild Garden above the top and the
• Pinetum on the right side of the map below.

Design of East Border

Design of West Border

Section 1 Part 1
Section 1 Part 2
Section 1 Part 3
Section 1 Part 4
Section 2 Part 4
Section 2 Part 5
Section 2 Part 6
Section 2 Part 7
Section 3 Part 7
Section 3 Part 8
Section 3 Part 9 with Seat Area
Section 4 Part 10 with Seat Area
Section 4 Part 11
Section 4 Part 12
Section 5 Part 12
Section 5 Part 13
Section 5 Part 14
Section 5 Part 15
Section 5 Part 16

Section 6 Part 16
Section 6 Part 17
Section 6 Part 18 with Plant Centre Exit
Section 7 Part 19 with Plant Centre Exit
Section 7 Part 20
Section 7 Part 21
Section 7 Part 22
Section 8 Part 22
Section 8 Part 23
Section 8 Part 24
Section 8 Part 25
Section 9 Part 26
Section 9 Part 27
Section 9 Part 28
Section 9 Part 29
Section 9 Part 30
Section 10 Part 31
Section 10 Part 32
Section 10 Part 33
Section 10 Part 34 with Access Road

Section 1 Part 35
Section 1 Part 36
Section 1 Part 37
Section 2 Part 38
Section 2 Part 39
Section 2 Part 40
Section 2 Part 41
Section 3 Part 42
Section 3 Part 43
Section 3 Part 44
Section 3 Part 45
Section 4 Part 45
Section 4 Part 46
Section 4 Part 47
Section 4 Part 48
Section 5 Part 48
Section 5 Part 49
Section 5 Part 50
Section 5 Part 51
Exit Path between Sections 5 and 6 Part 52

Section 6 Part 53
Section 6 Part 54
Section 6 Part 55
Section 6 Part 56
Section 7 Part 57
Section 7 Part 58
Section 7 Part 59
Section 7 Part 60
Section 7 Part 61
Exit Path between Sections 7 and 8 Part 62
Exit Path between Sections 7 and 8 Part 63
Section 8 Part 64
Section 8 Part 65
Section 8 Part 66
Section 9 Part 66
Section 9 Part 67
Section 9 Part 68
Section 9 Part 69
Section 9 Part 70
Section 9 Part 71

One of the aims of the garden is to educate its visitors.

The car parks are regularly full and so before and after the Entrance to the garden you need to have formality and straight lines to persuade thousands of people to keep going down the straight line to the end rather than dawdle and look at their surroundings.

SPRING FOLIAGE COLOUR
Spr-Black
(o)-Brown
(o)-Green
(o)-Grey
Spr-Other Colour
(o)-Purple
(o)-Red
(o)-Variegated
Spr-White
Spr-Yellow
Spr-None
Spr-Multi-Colour

SUMMER FOLIAGE COLOUR
Sum-Black
(o)-Brown
(o)-Green
(o)-Grey
Sum-Other Colour
(o)-Purple
(o)-Red
(o)-Variegated
Sum-White
Sum-Yellow
Sum-None
Sum-Multi-Colour

AUTUMN FOLIAGE COLOUR
Aut-Black
Aut-Brown
(o)-Green
Aut-Grey
Aut-Other Colour
Aut-Purple
Aut-Red
(o)-Variegated
Aut-White
Aut-Yellow
Aut-None
Aut-Multi-Colour

WINTER FOLIAGE COLOUR
Win-Black
Win-Brown
(o)-Green
(o)-Grey
Win-Other Colour
(o)-Purple
Win-Red
(o)-Variegated
Win-White
Win-Yellow
Win-None
Win-Multi-Colour
 

Plant Height from Text Border

Bulb

Brown =
0-4
inches
(0-10
cms)

Blue =
4-8
inches (10-20
cms)

Green = 8-12
inches (20-30
cms)

Magenta = 12-16 inches (30-40
cms)

Red = 16-20 inches (40-50
cms)

Black = 20-24 inches (50-60
cms)

Orange = 24+
inches
(61+
cms)

Perennial

1 inch = 2.5 cms,
12" = 1 foot = 30 cms,
3 feet = 1 yard,
40 inches = 1 metre

Brown =
0-1 feet (0-30
cms)

Blue =
1-2 feet (30-60
cms)

Green =
2-3 feet (60-90
cms)

Red =
3-6 feet (90-180
cms)

Black = 6+ feet (180+
cms)

Brown =
0-1 feet (0-30
cms)

Blue =
1-3 feet (30-90
cms)

Green =
3-5 feet (90-150
cms)

Red =
5-10 feet (150-300
cms)

Black = 10+ feet (300+
cms)

Brown =
0-20 feet (0-600
cms)

Blue =
20-40 feet (600-1200
cms)

Green =
40+ feet (1200
cms)

After the Entrance to the Garden, their is a small area with a path in the middle.

On the left is a Private House which is grey on the Map above and then the 15 (Laboratory) is on the right. So, a straight path leads to a split with

• the path on the left leading up steps to the Bedding Area.
• Wheelchair users would use the middle path to get to the same place or the Conifer Lawn and
• the path to the right goes past 15 (Laboratory) to other areas.

This then starts the process of splitting up the visitors.

Blue =
0-3 feet (0-90
cms)

Green =
3-10 feet (90-300
cms)

Red =
10+ feet (300+
cms)

Blue =
0-2 feet (0-60
cms)

Green =
2-6 feet (60-180
cms)

Red =
6+ feet (180+
cms)

Plant Soil Moisture from Text Background

Wet Soil

Moist Soil

Dry Soil

Click on thumbnail to add the Plant Description Page of the plant named in the Text box below that photo.
The Comments Row of that Plant Description Page details where that plant is available from.
Flowering months append the Sun Aspect in the Text Box below each Thumbnail.

Looking from the Bedding Area to the Garden Entrance, you can see that people in wheelchairs could not climb the steps.

Permanent Plant Name if background is yellow

Flower Colour

with link to a Design of East Border or
Design of West Border Page where that plant is located

Flowering Months

with link to each Month of that Flowering Colour Page

Height x Spread in inches (cms)

1 inch = 2.5 cms,
12" = 1 foot = 30 cms, 3 feet = 1 yard, 40 inches = 1 metre

Foliage Colour

Bedding Plant Name if background is blue

Spring

with link to that Foliage Colour in the Spring Page

Summer

with link to that Foliage Colour in the Summer Page

Autumn

with link to that Foliage Colour in the Autumn Page

Winter

with link to that Foliage Colour in the Winter Page

Alternative or Extra Plant Name if background is pink

Bamboo

Bedding

Bulb

Climber

Conifer

Deciduous Shrub

So they would use the other new path

Deciduous Tree

Evergreen Perennial

Evergreen Shrub

Abelia x grandiflora

White flushed mauve-pink

June, July, August, September, October

120 x 160
(300 x 400)

Dark Green

Dark Green

Dark Green

Dark Green

Evergreen Tree

Fern

Grass

Hedge

Carpinus betulus (Hornbeam)

Green Catkins

May

480 x 320
(1200 x 800)

Mid-Green

Mid-Green

Brown dead leaves

Brown dead leaves

Herbaceous Perennial

and onto the Bedding Area

Macleaya microcarpa 'Kelway's Coral Plume'

Pink

June, July

88 x 40
(220 x 100)

Large, rounded and lobed Grey-Green

Large, rounded and lobed Grey-Green

Large, rounded and lobed Grey-Green

Herb

Odds and Sods

Rhododendron/ Azalea /Camellia

Rose

Soft Fruit

Top Fruit

Vegetable

before looking up the Mixed Borders - with the path either side stopping at the Access Road in the distance - to Battlestone Hill.

Wildflower

The white notice on the lawn is requesting you not to walk on the grass.

The paths on either side are wide enough for a wheelchair or 2 people walking side by side, but not when someone stops to admire 1 of the 3 beds each side of this Mixed Borders lawn area.

Unfortunately, the staff at Wisley had not done a Risk Assessment on creating a sloping path to the Mixed Borders from the garden entrance, so that both Powered Wheelchairs and Pushed Wheelchairs could get access, before they built it. The result was the safety concern that I raised with the staff about pivoting slabs in the path or the right above. Despite the fact that a possible 750,000 visitors out of the 1,000,000 per year that visit may have walked over that path, it was more than 5 complaints to staff between April and November of the same year before any action was taken. As far as I could see, they had taken up the slab, put some sharp sand down and put the slab back. Grass grew in the gap between then and the following year. It is is pity that the RHS is so poor that it cannot afford to build paths suitable for 1,000,000 visitors per year to walk on using the correct foundations as shown in Case Study Number 3, and that their maintenance staff do not have the neccessary finance, equipment, enough personnel or knowledge in order to carry out safety work required to keep visitors safe in the garden. I suspect that no proper records ( when you have Rhododendrons in the garden near the main cafe that simply state Rhododendron on the label, then where is its record?) are kept about the buildings or grounds in this garden or if they had, then perhaps the architect who designed this sloping path might have looked at them.

This Mixed Border scheme has deciduous climbers, trees, evergreen and deciduous shrubs with bulbs as its other permanent plants to provide a permanent structure; which is backed by a deciduous hornbeam hedge.

This mixture provides a foliage and flower foil against which these other permanent herbaceous perennials can provide new growth from the ground each year, with the different colours of foliage from juvenile to mature to dying off in the autumn and then an easy maintenance during the months of December-March for removing most of the growth above ground and replacing the plant supports to provide a neat bed in a series of large ground areas.

The bedding plants provide the icing on the cake at different flowering time periods between May and November to enhance the overall flower colour scheme. The new bedding each year can provide opportunities to vary the look of these beds.

It was disapointing that I did not see and/or identify the flowers during 2013 of almost a third (28%) of these Permanent Herbaceous Perennial Plants - possible reasons shown in Lost Flowers Page with 'Walkabout' Plants and 'Stateless' Plants Page.

A table for each month - May, June, July, August, September, October, November - shows the flower photos for each of the 71 parts of the Mixed Borders split into Blue, Orange, Pink, Red, Unusual Colour, White, or Yellow for all the plants. Besides that, you can see from the table below that Red and Pink with Unusual Flower Colours seem to be predominant as flower colours and that these are spread throughout the beds.
Not having the knowledge of a fully qualified Royal Horticultural Society gardener, I am failing to see either

• a colour scheme from pastels to bright colours and then back to pastels to accentuate the middle area of the entrance to the Plant Centre or exit path to the Bowes-Lyon Rose Garden on the other side or
• the Red, bright Blue and Bright Yellows being closest to the garden entrance with the pastels at the furthest point of Battleston Hill to provide a visual extension to these beds or
• the duplication of the same plant throughout the beds to provide continuity (there are 14 Phlox varieties which provide some kind of continuity in the bed in using the same family with the same kind of plant form). Each of the Permanent Herbaceous Perennials normally only occurs in 1 patch in these Mixed Border Beds - rarely twice and even more rarely in 3 patches. Each of the parts of the Mixed Border beds overlaps the adjacent parts, so depending on how wide on the ground is that patch of a collection of a plant, then it depends on how many parts of the 71 parts that it is on.
  or
• change of flower colour from for example Yellow in May to Red in September to coincide with the possibility of the herbaceous shrubs/trees/hedge foliage becoming Brown/Red in the Autumn, in this Mixed Border or background hedge.
  or
• how the following distribution of flower colours from the Permanent Herbaceous Perennials in these beds comes from a restful to the eye and mind, coordinated and planned flower planting scheme:-
  Red or Pink flowers occurs in
  35 parts (17 Pink + 20 Red - 2 Pink and Red) in June,
  53 parts in July,
  59 in August and
  60 in September.
  Multi-coloured or not Blue, Orange, Pink, Red, White or Yellow flowers occurs in
  35 parts in June,
  53 parts in July,
  57 parts in August and
  47 parts in September.
  Mixtures of 2 or more colours is
  29 in June (16 of 2 colours + 17 of 3 colours + 2 of 4 or more colours - 6 of White and other Colour),
  52 in July,
  55 in August,
  50 in September.

I will continue to add the BEDding (started January 2014 - completed March 2014) and then the OTHer Permanent Plants (started March 2014 - completed May 2014) to the table below to show the flower colour planting scheme of the Bedding and the Other Permanent Plants and then its combination.
"Bedding Plant in Unknown Section" top data row in the Flower Colour Range months pages refers to the lack of a photo taken by me or H. Kavanagh of that bedding plant with the label in the same photo of a Permanent Herbaceous Perennial or Other Permanent Plant whose location in 1 or more of the 71 Parts of those Mixed Borders can be identified.

Me and H. Kavanagh were unable to obtain photos of the flowers of these Other Permanent Plants in 2013:-

7 Climbers,

• Miscanthus sinensis 'Kaskade',
• Miscanthus sinensis 'Roland',
• Sambucus nigra 'Guincho Purple',
• Sambucus nigra 'Gerda' and
• Buddleja davidii nanhoensis 'Nanho Purple' from the Other Permanent Plants produced spring foliage, but then were lost as the plants in front grew higher than they grew or the visability of its Plant Label was lost after May 2013.
• Ligustrum quihoui,
• Cornus alba 'Elegantissima' and
• Paeonia lutea var. ludlowii were at the back of the borders and were too far away to find and photo its flowers in 2013.
• Catalpa bignonioides 'Aurea' and
• Paulownia tomentosa produced foliage but no flowers.
• Artemesia abrotanum produced foliage but no flowers - is this because this plant rarely produces flowers in British gardens?
• Artemesia 'Powis Castle' at the front of the border was overgrown by the Pennisetum orientale 'Shogun' behind it.
• Clematis 'Kermesina' was probably removed from East Border 23 in March 2013.

In the late 19th century, Onopordum acanthium was introduced to temperate regions of North America, South America, and Australia as an ornamental plant, and is now considered a major agricultural and wildland noxious weed. I would not recommend growing it in your garden, orchard or fields.

If you find it difficult to buy Rosa Bonica 'Meidomonac' in the Retail Market like at garden centres or mail-order nurseries, then see WISLEY WISLEY Rose Classification System Page for details on this Rosa Retail Name 'Trade Name' RHS naming system.

--------

Of the 98 named bedding plants
in the Mixed Border of the RHS garden at Wisley, neither I nor H. Kavanagh managed to take photos of their flowers with mature form during 2013 for

11 of them ,

• 17 of them had white labels with handwriiten plant information instead of the normal printed name on a black label; when their photos were taken by H. Kavanagh or me,
• 1 had insufficient identity in its plant name - Verbena x hybrida - to be able to state exactly what its flower colour, number of flowering months, or height and width were; or anything else about the plant,
• 2 of them had conflicting plant names Heliotropium peruvianum
  'Dwarf Marine' on the White Plant Label with Heliotropium arborescens 'Marine' on the Black Plant Label inserted later in the year for the same plant group and
• 3 of them I could find no information about or mail-order supplier for Dahlia '15 Love', Dahlia pinnata 'Dawn Sky' or Dahlia hybrid 'Trinidad Sunset'.
• H. Kavanagh and I took photos of more than the 36 bedding plants with no plant label as shown in the Un-Labelled Bedding Plant Index Page during June, July and August 2013.
   

I am sure that as 1 of the 1,000,000 visitors to the garden at Wisley in 2012-2013 and I am not sure how many visitors in 2013-2014, that I must express my grateful thanks to the RHS that more than 50% of the Summer Bedding Plants in the Mixed Borders during the summer of 2013 could not be identified or that the writing on their white plant labels was too small to be read from the path alongside the beds.

--------

See my comments about
The RHS Companion to Scented Plants Hardcover - 16 Oct 2014 by Stephen Lacey) (Author), Andrew Lawson (Photgrapher) ISBN 978-0-7112-3574-8.

See the response to my comments on RHS Wisley Garden by the RHS in
Blue Flowers in January

Site design and content copyright ©February 2013. Chris Garnons-Williams.

DISCLAIMER: Links to external sites are provided as a courtesy to visitors. Ivydene Horticultural Services are not responsible for the content and/or quality of external web sites linked from this site.
 

Solution to Unemployment in Britain:-

"The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Auckland, New Zealand, have taught 3 rescue dogs to drive in an effort to encourage people to adopt and love shelter pets."

Besides the trained dogs who aid Blind People in walking, these other dogs could be trained to drive in Britain. Then, when a Blind person wishes to be driven, an unemployed person could earn their benefit by being in the front passenger seat giving directions to the dog who is doing the driving, but not to the dog who is sitting in the back seat alongside the Blind passenger.

The Blind person gets social interaction and the unemployed person - in aiding this blind person to go further than that person can walk for shopping or to visit friends - increases their self-esteem and self-worth.

The cars are maintained and operated with the dog driver during 8 hours each week by these unemployed. The running costs, cars and car parts are paid for by the local Government Employment Department.