If you peek behind the curtains you won’t be blinded by the views of the rock garden today

All pictures were taken at Wisley on 11 December.

In the fern glade today there’s some winter colour with the additional benefit of wonderful scent

Viburnum × bodnantense ‘Dawn’ AGM is a cross between V. farreri and V. grandiflorum produced in 1935 at Bodnant Garden, Wales, which has been a National Trust garden since 1949. It flowers from November to March during which time the flowers fade from dark pink to white. It will eventually reach 5m x 5m. The blooms are borne on bare stems and are fully frost hardy and intensely fragrant. A twig brought inside will scent a room. This hybrid also has interesting bark and the flowers often start opening in the autumn amongst the fading leaves. Flowering is said to be improved by pruning but this is at the expense of the natural shape of the plant.

Viburnum × bodnantense ‘Deben’ was selected by Messers Notcutt and awarded a A.M in 1962 and an F.C.C. in 1965. The flower tube is slightly longer and more slender than in ‘Dawn’. The flowers are shell pink in bud opening white with a flush of pink. It is a smaller plant than ‘Dawn’ reaching 3m in hight.

Further details of the Bodnant hybrids can be found at: https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/viburnum/viburnum-x-bodnantense

Viburnum farreri AGM will take 20 years to reach full size, which is 3 x 2.5m and comes from northern China in particular Qinghai and Xinjiang on the Tibetan Plateau. The flowers have a vanilla fragrance. The first picture shows V. farreri in the foreground and V. bodnantense ‘Dawn’ AGM in the background. I’m not sure I could tell them apart when standing on the path near them.

Daphne bhoula ‘Cobhay Debut’ was raised by Junker’s Nursery, Higher Cobhay, Milverton,  Somerset. It was the first selected daphne cultivar from the nursery, hence the cultivar name. The seed originated from the Daman Ridge in Nepal. Karan Junker also wrote the book ‘Gardening with Woodland Plants’ (currently out of print). 

Acer palmatum var dissectum ‘Balcombe Green’ is another fine selection which I believe is named after the Balcombe Estate, in West Sussex, south west of Crawley, north of Haywards Heath. This 3500 acre estate was built in 1856 by the First Viscount of Cowdray and was given to his daughter, Lady Gertrude Denman, as a wedding present in 1905.

Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Tonia’ is a lightly variegated form of C. obtusa ‘Nana Gracilis’ and was introduced to the trade in 1928 by William Hage Nursery in Boskoop, The Netherlands. Prized for its creamy white colour of the tips in Spring, it grows to 50 x 50cms after 10 years, growing at 3 – 5cms per year. The genus and species names have been included in earlier diaries.

Cryptomeria japonica ‘Tenzan’ grows 10 – 15cms high in 10 years, or about 1cm per year. Don’t expect to buy a large specimen. The strategically placed oak leaf gives an idea of scale. It is referred to as Tenzan-sugi by the RHS, but as “sugi” is just the Japanese name for Cryptomeria japonica, this is redundant in the cultivar name. ‘Tenzan’ was found in the mid-1970s as a witches broom, at Nelis Kools Nursery in Duerne, The Netherlands. ‘Tenzan’ generally means Heavenly Mountain in Japanese.

Acer palmatum ‘Inaba-shidare’ AGM has been featured several times but this picture shows the recent pruning, implemented to stop it encroaching further onto the steps. I’ve discovered it was first listed in Japan in 1882. My research has also found some more information on the cultivar name. The Japanese observed that in the rain this plant looks a little like ‘ine’ (a rice plant, an old form, which turned crimson in the autumn). Therefore ‘Inabe’ would translate as ‘leaf like a rice plant’ and the full cultivar name would be ‘a cascading, rice-like leaf’.

In the Alpine Display House

Galanthus elwesii var. monostictus can be found in  flower from November emerging from grey leaves  and is known as the one-spotted Elwes’s snowdrop. It is at home in southern Turkey and its common name comes from the variety name which is  Latin for single-spotted.

Galanthus elwesii ‘Mary Biddulph’ is a virescent (greenish) snowdrop and was found at Rodmarton Manor, Cirencester, Gloucestershire. The Manor house was built between 1909 and 1929, and the house, furniture and 8 acre garden was built in the arts and crafts movement style for Claud and Margaret Biddulph, whot was an early galanthophile. The house is now a Grade I listed building, open to the public at certain times, with the family still living there.  This cultivar was named after their daughter Marjory Mary Biddulph (1915 – 1995).

Sedum multiceps originates from warm and dry conditions on cliff tops in north Algeria, and will thrive in an unheated greenhouse. It is known as the little Joshua tree, growing to 15cm in height. In the summer it has bright yellow flowers. The specific epithet is from the Latin meaning “many headed”.

Crocus laevigatus ‘Fontenayi’ has lilac coloured flowers with an orange throat and darker stripes outside. Janis Ruksan’s book ‘The World of Crocuses’ doesn’t shed any light on the origin of the cultivar name. There are several locations in France called Fontenay, but this crocus is only found in parts of mainland Greece and the Cyclades Islands.

Petrocosmea ‘Keystone’s Angora’ is a cross between P. forrestii and P. duclouxii that was raised by Tim Tuttle, from Pittsburgh, USA, who raised a series of plants with “Keystone” in their name. It has medium-green, soft fuzzy leaves and bears lavender flowers with white centres. The name “Angora” is a reference to the soft rabbit fur like hairy leaves.

Narcissus ‘Tarlatan’ was raised by Douglas Blanchard in 1952 and is a hybrid between N. cantabricus var. foliosus and N. romieuxii. It is one of the “fabric” group of hybrids he named, including Nylon, Taffeta, Muslin and Poplin, of which Tarlatan has the largest flowers in the group.

Lewisia cotyledon hybrid is noteworthy simply because it is still in flower, much later than I was expecting to see. I’ve seen them still flowering in early November in previous years and this is another four weeks later.  This year there have been Lewisia plants in flower over a nine month period.

Lachenalia viridiflora has been included in previous diaries, the last time while it was still in bud. It is a very striking turquoise green which is not a typical flower colour, adding to its interest.

Some general views of the rock garden

It is at this time of the year that the full scale of the rock work can be seen in all its glory. There appears to be lots of oak leaves in the top pool but I can confirm they were removed a few days later. There is another leaf clearance programmed for early January, weather permitting, once the remaining oak leaves have fallen.

In my next diary for the end of December, the tree on the right hand side in the first picture will be gone, Pinus mugo ‘Humpy’. Its removal is required to unblock the path for visitors with reduced mobility and to open up the views. The grotto waterfall in the third picture can be seen clearly at this time of year, now the foliage has died down. 

Erica erigena f. alba ‘Mrs Parris White’ originated from a seedling of  Erica erigena ‘W. T. Rackliff’ raised by Anne Paris from Usk, Monmouthshire, Wales, in 1978 who gave it to Mrs. B. Evans from Ridgeway Heather Nursery, Craven Arms, Shropshire, England who named it for Anne.  At full size it grows to 46 – 60cm in height, with a similar spread.

I have realised that I’ve been using terms such as subspecies, variety and form, without really understanding the differences. Subspecies are distinct, geographically isolated populations. Varieties have inheritable variations, often regional. Forms have minor often occasional differences, such as flower colour. When subspecies are created, autonyms are created which repeat the species name to designate the type subspecies. Many subspecies, varieties and forms that have been named, for which there is not a consensus by botanists, that these names are not justified.

On 11 December in 1769

It was on this day in 1769 that Edward Beran in London, patented venetian blinds, although It is recognized that he didn’t actually invent them as such. He did recognize that no one else had applied for a patent, so he was clearly a good entrepreneur. It was Venetian merchants who had brought the idea from Persia (Iran) back in the mists of time. In Persia strips of cloth were used to control the amount of light entering a room. The Romans and Chinese had also  used similar systems, using cloth or bamboo strips.  Some could have water applied to them, to cool the air as it passed over the strips,  one of the earliest forms of air conditioning. Freed slaves from Venice took the idea with them to France where they are still called ‘les persienes’ referring to their Persian heritage. In 1841 John Hampson modified the design by adding the cords allowing the angle of the slats or blades so that they could be angled. It is difficult to imagine a blind without this design feature today. The common name of blinds is related to the elimination of light or literally blind, the loss of eye sight. We now know there can be many causes of blindness and many different degrees of vision loss, not just the lack of light entering the eyes. If you are fortunate enough to see your way around the rock garden at Wisley, even at this time of year, when it can be a bit dull and gloomy, be grateful for the joys and delights on display and the ones yet to come.