‘And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom he had formed.’
Genesis 2: 7,8 (but I like the verses before this as well- no rain just mist.)
This post will have: a short description of Wisley’s own water supply, the Persica rose I saw in Tralee Ireland being trialed in the Trial gardens, and various photographs of the gardens that have gone through a dry spell of 62 days starting June 17, 2026.
First the water storage for the garden. There is a dug lake, Clear Lake, with a total storage of about 10 million litres. Then there is Glass House Lake of 6 million litres of rain water. There is also the Pinetum Borehole as a back up. These are the three main sources of water for the gardens.
So what happened during this dry spell?
During the peak of this prolonged dry spell staff actively chose to cut off irrigation to major ornamental areas, like the fruit orchard and water was prioritised for unrenewable crops, essential research plants, and young collections. Established trees and lawns were left to survive naturally.
An example of a plant that was lost completely was the sweet pea but looking in the Trial gardens the Rosa, Persica was thriving.
These are hybrids of Rosa Persica from Iran and Afghanistan. Why trial these? This is a four year trial and they hope to show case and review many hybrids. The best performers will receive the RHS Award of Gold Merit. They will be judged by these four criteria:
General impression: foliage, vigour, novelty.
Flowers: colour, abundance, repeat blooms.
Disease resistance.
Fragrance.
The intersting and really important characteristic is that this rose can cope with little water comes in many colours and are excellent for pollinators.
Then here are some of the areas we looked at. These long boarders are relatively colourful.
Plants like Agapanthers and Hibiscus were bright as well as Dahlias helped by the rains and irrigation in this area. The grass being particularly good.
A corner of sun loving Rebecca in this part of the garden with noticeable green growing between the paving. A watered area.
Looking down through the cottage garden the saucer shaped water feature where I have photographed a duck swimming was empty. This is where I guess plants like the sweet peas were lost.
The garden filled with tropical plants is a ‘jungle ‘ of growth and colour.
The very large hibiscus flowers as big as ones face.
Then there was the world vegetable garden. It was noticeable that calendulas were having their time while pumpkins and such like were smaller and fewer.
The edging plants going into the paths were looking really bee friendly something I saw introduced.
Plants have naturally gone to seed more quickly and looking down from the viewing area one could see the freer prairie type planting was not as colourful.
And the fruit trees closed in on themselves with leaves a little folded and very little fruit.
Different areas with different access to water. It is still an exciting garden to visit.
Three photographs that made me smile.
The alternative to grass lawn has done really well. Something I noticed in German gardens.
A fine display of heat loving succulents.
In the foreground to the left is ‘Magnolia grandiflora, Charles Dickens’ this is a champion tree which means that it is the largest specimen of its type in the UK and Ireland. It will soon have flowers look at the large bud or is it its seed?🤣
A wonderful place for all of us to be. May old and young continue to enjoy it as they were yesterday. We wish you well dear Wisley.
Take care,
Sandy 🙂