Returns

To Wisley last week, inter alia, to return the book taken out from the library there and noticed at reference 1. Skimmed rather than read, not being able to work up that much interest in all the many varieties of tulips and all the waves of fashion sweeping through the gardening world. But a takeaway is the reminder of the days when some members at least of the working classes were able to find some escape from the tedium and toil of the working week by becoming experts on tulips, dahlias or whatever at weekends. A safety valve both important and pleasant and I do not know what now takes its place - with tulip societies and dahlia societies being largely moribund, the preserve of the very old. I suspect that part of the answer is that a lot of the time which was spent in growing such things is now spent watching other people growing such things, either on television or at places like Wisley. Not the same thing at all.

In any event, there were lots of people at Wisley on this Sunday morning. Lots of young families.

The first plant that we noticed on this occasion was an out of season camelia, and we noticed a number of other out of season flowers as the visit progressed. Global warming has clearly reached Surrey.

The second thing that we noticed was a smalled walled garden, all in various shades of geometric green. Yew trim. Very fetching.

In the big hothouse, a handsome show of chrysanthemums. Also a small show of fruit and vegetables. And a small but handsome show of orchids. I was reminded of the Sitwell anecdote about how the Chinese connoisseur might spend hours gazing at just the one bloom. In the case of fruit trees which cannot be properly appreciated by standing at ground level, might even have a special seat installed for the purpose. I am also reminded of an anecdote, possibly in a James Bond story, about a senior civil servant who was very keen on cacti and grew some in his office. I can imagine a person like that, another near extinct breed, spending hours on his plants.

The main canteen was not really coping at 1300. The system was starting to fray at the edges, clearly a victim of its own success. The justification, presumably, for all the building works.

We learned on the way out that while there might be several hundred people working at Wisley (if you include the zero hours people) there was no Christmas party for them. Just a Christmas lunch. Charities did not do beanos. On the other hand there was plenty of Christmas flavoured merchandise. We were also able to find a good selection of bird seed, rather too good really, one did not know which one to pick. It also struck me as being rather dear compared with the stuff from Homebase aka Bunnings. But the birds did seem to appreciate what we ended up with, arriving at the feeder maybe ten feet beyond our kitchen window within hours rather than with the days it usually takes them.

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/library.html.

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