Fresh new colour and growth is what May at Wisley is all about. Don't miss the dazzling rhododendrons on Battleston Hill plus irises, peonies, wisteria, and early vegetables. Wander through lush, green foliage in the Arboretum, and cool shade in the Wild Garden with a floor full of woodland flowers like Primula bulleyana. The enormous leaves of Gunnera manicata spring up almost overnight, and intricate, tiny flowers delight the eye in the Alpine Houses.
Purple alliums fill the beds outside the Glasshouse in May, and after their colour fades the spherical flowerheads stand proud.
On Weather Hill you can admire the field of blue around the Cornus collection. Camassia leichtlinii subsp. suksdorfii Caerulea Group and C. cusickii produce a field of blue that looks wonderful this month. Beside it, the now established Bowes-Lyon Rose Garden is bursting into summer glory.
In May beautiful peonies bloom outside the Walled Garden including the rare Chinese tree peony Paeonia rockii. In China the peony is known as the flower of riches and honour and is an emblem of wealth and distinction; the Chinese tree peony represents the season of spring. Look out for more peonies around the borders on Seven Acres.
Battleston Hill is famous for its flamboyant rhododendrons and azaleas. Awe inspiring en masse, close inspection will reveal delicate markings, sometimes honey-sweet fragrance, and furry backs to the leaves. Herbaceous plants like Meconopsis and Erythronium add other electric colours into the mix.
Take a close look at the flowers on trees – they can be amazingly intricate and often overlooked. Look for Liriodendron tulipifera on Seven Acres. Deutzia and Philadelphus in the Seven Acres borders also come into flower perfuming the air with a heady scent. Honeysuckles enchant with their fragrance too.
There is much to see inside the Glasshouse. Check out the variety of leaf shape and colour, and flowers and fragrance. Enjoy the orchids, begonias and pelargoniums, and in the Tropical Zone look out for ripening papayas and cute kangaroo paws.
Sometimes you need to look up high for some real gems. Just along from the Temple at the top of Battleston Hill is a stand of silver birch trees, and high in their branches a large wisteria climbs up among them, creating a spectacular sight of lilac-blue and white. You can see similar in the Wild Garden and around the Walled Garden and at the bottom of the Rock Garden Wisteria floribunda ‘Multijuga’ entwines itself over the bridges – it is our Plant of the Month.