RHS Garden Wisley

Wisley began in 1878 as a private experimental garden and was given to the Royal Horticultural Society in 1903; it covers about ninety hectares and does two jobs at once. It is a display garden with a rock garden, a walled garden, mixed borders that run over a hundred metres, an alpine house and an orchard of a thousand apple varieties. It is also a working scientific site: plant trials run in long ordered rows where cultivars are grown side by side and assessed over years for the Award of Garden Merit, which is why parts of the garden look like a field experiment rather than a design. The Glasshouse of 2007 holds tropical, temperate and dry zones under one roof twelve metres high, and the Hilltop science building opened in 2021 with laboratories visible to visitors.

What you actually see

• The Glasshouse - three climate zones under a twelve-metre roof.
• The trials fields - cultivars grown in rows and assessed over years.
• The long borders - mixed planting running over a hundred metres.
• Hilltop - a science building with working laboratories on view.

When to go

April to October for the fullest planting; the garden is designed for year-round interest and the Glasshouse works in winter. Butterflies in the Glasshouse in January and February is a popular event. Weekends are very busy.

Honest expectations

The garden is large and a full circuit takes several hours of walking. Non-members pay a substantial entry, and the car park charges on top at some periods. The trials areas look utilitarian by design and disappoint visitors expecting only display planting.

Nearby

Painshill Park and Claremont are short drives; Box Hill lies southeast.