The Life Of A Wisley Intern - Part 2.

What a week that was! The staff at the RHS Wisley Gardens are a truly amazing and inspirational bunch and I cant thank them enough for another wonderful time at the gardens!

My last 3 days were a very varied time, working with most of the staff members on the Formal Ornamental department, This post covers Wednesday;

Wednesday.
Today I finished up the work that was started behind the walled garden by weeding, hoeing, mulching and raking over the climber beds.

The main task however was to weed, and tidy through the annual borders adjacent to the new rose garden. This is an area of the Wisley Gardens that are earmarked for developments in the future and so are used as trial, or experimentation, beds where different techniques and designs can be tried out to see how effective they are.

This year the design for the annual borders is "The Jumblies" by Edward Lear, designed by one of the Formal Ornamental team members, and features the colours mentioned in the poem and structures created using willow frames that resemble objects and text from the poem. More information on the poem, and deign can be found HERE. (RHS blog by the designer, Lucie Ponsford)

The Annual Beds Before Weeding
Commenced.

The annual beds started earlier on in the year, where drills were used to create troughs within the soil in which the annual seeds could be sown. This is an old, but effective, method of creating intricate patterns that can be used to tell a story as demonstrated in these borders.

The Annual Bed Around 50% Weeded.

The task today was to weed, using a normal hoe, though the intricate patterns to remove weeds that are crowding out the bedding which is beginning to germinate and to improve the aesthetics of the site. This was a really fun job, and I enjoyed tracing the patterns to remove the weeds, it certainly requires a skill of hoeing! But it was all worth it as you can see from the pictures!

Preparing the planting area.
Setting Out The Vines.

After the weeding had been completed I helped to plant Cobaea scandens (cup & saucer vine) around the arch walkway which will provide a stunning show in the summer as well as allowing for young children to play inside it and get up close the plants.

It was a fantastic day, with lots for me to learn about!

View Part 1 HERE. View Part 3 HERE (Coming Soon).

The finished arch walkway, with all vines planted.

The Life Of A Wisley Intern - Part 1.

Wow. This will be my 3rd stint at the prestigious RHS Wisley Gardens, and I couldn't be happier to be working there again!

As part of my course at college we have to undertake 2 weeks external work experience and I was lucky enough to be accepted to come and work for the RHS for 2 weeks. The first week being based at the Wisley Gardens, and the second week working at the incredible RHS Chelsea Flower Show, but more on that next week!

At Wisley I am based with the Formal Ornamental team, which manages several areas throughout the site including, the rose gardens, the walled garden, the canal area, the herbaceous borders and the model gardens. The staff on the team are hugely knowledgeable and the plants on site are incredible!

Monday.
Today I was based in the herbaceous borders, and was primarily weeding though the plants which have now started to come through ready for an incredible display later on in the year.

I thoroughly enjoyed working on these borders, and they now look so much better, tidier and cleaner!

The Herbaceous Borders (closest), leading to Battleston Hill.

Tuesday.

The beds were becoming overgrown with
the Allium.

I was placed into a different area for today, which mainly involved me working around the canal area, and the walled garden.

Today my main task was to weed, and tidy the beds opposite the laboratories, close to the main entrance. The main task was to remove areas of Allium paradoxum as they had self-seeded to readily and had started to become a weed problem, as you can see in the picture on the right.

The finished, much better looking, area!

Me Working Away At The Site...

How the bed looked
when we started.

After a lot of hard work the bed was cleared and looked so much better for it as you can see on the left! The area looks more open, natural and allows more light in to the site making it look far more attractive.

After this I was moved over to the walled garden where I had to weed and tidy the beds there as well as removing some of the existing climbers to allow for new plants to replace them. You can see how the site looked at the start of the work on the left.

The climber that was there had not been performing as well as it should be and so it was removed to allow for 2 new climbing plants to replace it. Once the site was cleared, compost was added to enrich the soil, and a layer was also added to the surface (Shown right).

Me planting up the new climbers.

After this planting could commence! This involved the addition of 3 new climbers, 2 on one side, 1 on the far side of the wall. I thoroughly enjoyed planting the Ampelopsis brevipedunculata 'Elegans' on the corner of the site which will grow into a lovely variegated climber, and remain there for many years too come!

The finished site.

The finished site is shown on the right and as you will agree looks much better with the cleared beds, and the new plants!

I am loving my time there so far, and I cant wait to share with you the other exciting tasks that I will be set for the rest of the week!

Enjoy!

Jack