I always endeavour to take you on a journey to see plants from around the world, it’s always plain sailing at Wisley

I’ve realised that quite a few of my titles are transport related and ships have been mentioned several times before. There is no reason for this. It’s always a journey of discovery for me when I research the plants I’ve seen.  I hope you discover things of interest to you in this diary. All pictures were taken on 27 October 2025.

Out in the main rock garden the maples are clothed in their autumn glory

In my last diary I had thought that the expected high winds would have stripped the trees but I’m pleased that I was wrong. Acer palmatum ‘Baldsmith’  has a cultivar name that I hoped I’d be able to identify. The internet suggests it is after Bartholomew Smith who was a friend of the person who selected it. He also  just happened to be follicly challenged. I do hope this is a true story. The internet never lies.

Acer palmatum var dissectum ‘Filigree’ has intricate lace-like leaves with reticulated variegation and striking white flecking. It is slow growing reaching 1m tall in 10 years. The original plant  was a selection made by Joel Spingarn of New York who purchased it as a young green dissectum but realised it was something different.

Acer palmatum var dissectum ‘Spring Delight’ was selected, named and propagated by Talon Buchholz of Buchholz and Buchholz Nursery, Oregon and was a chance seedling. In the spring the leaves look as if they have been dipped in cranberry juice, they have purple tips and a coloured edge. I’ll have to look carefully next spring when the leaves emerge.

Acer palmatum var dissectum ‘Red Filigree Lace’ was another chance seedling that was passed to J.D Vertrees and Iseli Nursery, Boring, Oregon. There is also a cultivar ‘Ruby Lace’ that may be the same plant. Mr Vertrees (1915 – 1993) jointly wrote the book ‘Japanese Maples: The complete guide to Selection and Cultivation’ with Peter Gregory in 1978, so he will know. With a name like his it was inevitable he would write a book on trees. I’ll bet no one has noticed that before.

It wasn’t all about maples today

Saxifraga fortunei comes from China, Japan and Korea and is named to honour Robert Fortune (1802 – 1880), the Scottish plant collector who brought back over 250 ornamental plants from China and Japan. It is a shade-loving herbaceous perennial with marked leaves and is autumn flowering, a benefit to most gardens. I discovered it was Robert who took Chinese tea plants and knowledge of tea making to the British controlled areas of  India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). This was done to break the monopoly on the tea trade by China at the time, an action that was not without great personal risk had he been caught.

Cotoneaster procumbens ‘Queen of Carpets’ is a  species which comes from India, Pakistan, Myanmar, West Himalaya, South-Central China. The specific epithet is from the Latin meaning lying flat on the ground or creeping forwards, this being a selected form.

Ginkgo biloba ‘Lil’ Matthew’ has a name that must have a good back story. The internet identified that it was listed by Arrow Alpines, Fowlerville, Michigan, USA back in 2007 but the origins are unknown.

On the bonsai walk there are some new trees to be seem            

I noticed a couple of new trees had appeared on the bonsai walk today, so these appear first. Pyracantha angustifolia ‘Firethorn’ whose genus name is from the Greek pyr meaning fire and akanthos meaning a thorn, so firethorn. The specific epithet is from the Latin meaning narrow-leaved. It comes from south central and east China and east Himalaya and Tibet.

Ligustrum ovalifolium is our common privet. The genus name is possibly from the Latin word ligo meaning to bind as the twigs were used for a simple form of binding.  Likewise, the specific epithet is from the Latin meaning oval-leaved. It is native to Japan which of course makes it a perfect choice for a bonsai specimen. I hadn’t realised that you could bonsai privet which is why Peter Chan runs a bonsai nursery and I don’t.

Malus sylvestris is covered in fruits which can be clearly seen now that the leaves have been shed. The specific epithet is from the Latin meaning of the woods or forests. I have shown the following three  bonsais in previous diaries,  an un-named Japanese maple, Zelkova serrata and  Acer palmatum but at different times of the year. I was right in my last diary about some of the trees having lost their leaves by now.

It was during school holidays when I was taking my pictures. While waiting for gaps between families passing,  you frequently hear comments from the children that amuse me. Their delight and surprise in seeing the age of the trees, how can something that small be that old? Then I think that’s part of the appeal to adults as well.

The Alpine Display House should never be overlooked

I’ve included petrocosmea in earlier diaries, but not the following ones to my knowledge. I explained where they come from and how they grow. When seen side-by-side the differences can be clearly seen.

Petrocosmea ‘Rosemary Platz’ hybridized by Tim Tuttle and introduced in 2009, he named it for his friend in Long Island, NY.

Petrocosmea sericea,  the specific epithet is from the Latin – silk-bearing, hence its common name the silky petrocosmea.

Petrocosmea coerulea, also has a specific epithet from the Latin – blue and again the common name is the sky blue-flowered petrocosmea.

Dionysia ‘Bernd Wetzel’ is another of Harry Jans hybrids, HJ9401 and is a cross of D. tapetodes and possibly D. aretioides it is described as being a yellow thrum. This is where the stamens and anthers are visible as a ‘thrum’ at the flower throat, the stigma is lower down inside the tube.

I’ve featured Campanula fragilis subsp. cavolinii in an earlier diary, but it’s included again to dispel the myth that they are all spring flowering.

The selection of South African plants continues to provide so much colour and interest. Some of the genus has been included before but not these ones.

Lachenalia ensifolia subsp. Maughanii was named to honour Dr. Herbert Maughan Brown (1883 – 1940) who was physician and plant collector. It grows in West Cape Province.

Lachenalia longituba comes from the Southwest Cape Province on the Roggeveld plateau which is one of the coldest areas in SA, which get snow and frost normally each year. It is a very dry area however  with only  30 – 300mm of rain annually. It’s ability to withstand cold is because it is so dry.

Lachenalia paucifolia is found growing on coastal granite and limestone outcrops in Southwest Cape Province. It has pale to deep lilac colour flowers that are  weakly honey scented. The specific epithet is from the Latin – few-flowered.

Lachenalia pygmaea is from Kamiesberg in Namaqualand. It grows in a region where annual rainfall is 50 – 400mm. In years with low rainfall the plants don’t bloom, plants can flower from seed in 12 months.

Hessa matthewsii is a very similar genus to Strumaria. Another plant from the Cape Provinces the genus name is to honour H.F Hesse (1772 – 1837). He was  a Christian missionary who had travelled to Cape Town from Hanover and was also a plant enthusiast. The specific epithet also honours Mr. M.J. Mathews the curator of the National Botanic Garden at the time, who had found the type specimen. It is frost tender but will grow readily from seed, germinating almost immediately and flowering within three years of sowing. The flowers can be bright pink, crimson and white.

Nerine x versicolor ‘Mansellii’ is a cross of N. flexuosa x N. sarniensis hybrid produced by Mr. Mansell in Guernsey in 1880. It is a lovely cross still going strong 145 years later. The colour is stunning and stands out even in the collection of the many Nerines at Wisley.

Is it time for more snowdrops again

I don’t normally include plants that are not on show to visitors but sometimes there is not enough space to have everything on display, every year. The following three, for the avoidance of doubt, would expected to be in flower at this time of year, in cultivation and in the wild.

Galanthus peshmenii was described and named as a species in 1994. It was originally collected in 1973 and introduced by Martyn Rix into the British Isles the following year. It is now known to come from the Aegean Islands to southwest Turkey. The specific epithet was to honour Turkish botanist Hasan Pesmen (1939 – 1980).

Galanthus elwesii ‘Peter Gatehouse’ can be in flower from October to December. It was found by Peter Gatehouse and given to Washfield Nursery in 1994. I included it in my diary last October but I’ve included again as many visitors are surprised that they can see snowdrops in October.

Galanthus elwesii (Hiemalis Group) ‘Barnes’ AGM was a selection by E.P. Barnes, a surgeon from Northampton who sent it to Oliver Wyatt c1928. A group were found in his garden in 1973 labelled ‘Barnes’. I’d love to know what make of marker pen Oliver had used as my labels fade after just a few years, never mind 45 years. Just a pencil then.

On this day in history 27 October 1728

Happy birthday James Cook who is famous for his three expeditions to the Pacific Ocean. I learned that on his first trip (1768 – 1771), where the crew discovered the East coast of Australia, he was not a captain, but commissioned as a lieutenant. His ship was not called HMS Endeavour but HMS Bark Endeavour, as there was already another ship named HMS Endeavour. Cook’s ship was later re-named once the first ship was de-commissioned. His first trip was primarily to observe the transit of Venus in 1769. This was important as the transit only happens every 120 years. The Royal Society had worked out that by doing this they could calculated the distance from the earth to the sun and then the size of the known solar system, as well as confirming the speed of light. Johannes Kepler (1571 -1630) had proposed three laws of planetary motion between  1609 – 1616  and knew the ratio of distances between the planets. Sir Edmond Halley (1656 – 1742) the second Astronomer Royal  (as in Halley comet) had realised that using simple trigonometry (simple if you are the Astronomer Royal) and taking measurements of the transit they could calculate the distance from the earth to Venus and using Kepler’s ratios, the distance from the Earth to the Sun. From their results the distance was calculated to be 95m miles, later refined  at the next transit in 1891 to 92.8m. This is very close to the accepted NASA distance of 92.95m which was made using modern RADAR technology. I don’t know why they didn’t just google it (other search engines are available). I think this is a remarkable achievement  using only brass instruments such as telescopes and mechanical watches. Cook then left Tahiti and sailed to New Zealand to map the Islands. Cook had been chosen to lead the expedition in part due to his cartography skills. When there, he opened secret orders to sail on and  seek the fabled southern continent Terra Australis Incognita (unknown land of the South). If you were thinking scientist were clever at the time, they believed there must be a large southern continent to balance the continents in the northern hemisphere. On 19 April 1770 they sighted land which we know now was the East Coast of Australia. On board the ship was Joseph Banks (1743 – 1820) and his party including Daniel Solander a Swedish botanist and student of Carl Linnaeus. They found a safe harbour at botany bay, named by Cook for Banks and Solander to honour the two botanists on the trip.

Banks at the age of 21 had inherited money from his father which paid him £5k pa, equivalent to £1m today. He had heard about the trip and thought it would be an adventure, paying for berths on board, as you do.  Half the crew were expected to die of scurvy on a long sea trip at the time and Banks would have been aware of the risks. The success of the trip also proved the benefit of having scientists on board and led to other expeditions such as Charles Darwin on HMS Beagle.

On their return to London in 1771 with over 30300 specimens Solander returned to the British Museum and Banks went on to become president of the Royal Society (1778 – 1820) and honorary director of the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. They had been around the world but 6 out of the 11 civilians had perished on the journey. Banks is very dear to the RHS as in 1804 he was one of the seven founding members of the Horticultural Society of London. Having made Prince Albert their President in 1858, they received a Royal Charter in 1861, becoming the RHS. In 1809 they had started taking members who had to pay a joining fee of three guineas (equivalent to £2500  today) and an annual membership of two guineas (£1600). Women were not admitted until 1830. They had a constitution that included aims for the improvement and practice of horticulture, to introduce a scientific and evidence-based approach and to be a conduit for the sharing of knowledge.

Not everything is more expensive today, RHS membership certainly isn’t. Thanks to the plant hunters such as Banks and Fortune and many others, we can wander around our gardens, with a cup of tea in hand, and admire plants from all over the world, at no personal risk, other than spilling your tea. Just don’t let it go cold.