A dark red double hellebore.

Stay Home Spring: Virtual Garden Tours

Posted on by Ann Mackay

Normally I try to have something different to photograph every week, so that there’s plenty of variety in the images for this blog. But I think that’s going to be a bit difficult for a while. When there isn’t much to photograph in the garden I may buy a new plant or go on a garden visit – neither of which is possible at the moment.

However, although I cannot leave home to go visiting gardens for now, I can at least enjoy them through videos on the web. It seems a good time for me to share a quick fantasy tour of several gardens. I hope they will provide a little ‘escape’ if you’re stuck indoors.

I’ve enjoyed visiting  Kew Gardens, but a day spent there can be quite tiring it you want to see absolutely everything. Their short video tour lets you see the highlights of the gardens the easy way! It includes my favourites – the Treetop Walkway (an amazing experience) and the gorgeous waterlilies in their own special glasshouse. You can find more videos from Kew at their YouTube page and I’d suggest the ‘Wakehurst in Bloom‘ video as a lovely glimpse of spring in one of their subsidiary gardens.

For many years I visited the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh on a very frequent basis. (I lived a little over 10 miles away.) So I’m pleased to be able to see spring there again and even visit their other regional gardens from the comfort of my own home.

From another botanical garden are the New York Botanical Garden’s videos. It was a treat to be able to see their fabulous orchid exhibition, which is too far away for me to be able to visit in ‘real life’. (Look out for the superbly elegant Darwin Star Orchid and the ‘predicted moth’.)

Most years I visit open garden events in the areas nearby. Sometimes the gardens are unusual or quirky and many surround interesting historic buildings. Of course, these have all been cancelled this year. I’ve been looking for videos instead and was happy to be able to explore gardens a bit further afield than usual when I found this video of gardens on the Isle of Man.  Watching the video felt just like many of the open garden days that I’ve been to.

Gardens that I would normally be planning to visit at this time of year include Beth Chatto’s beautiful garden, which I’ve written about in a past post. This is one of my favourite gardens to visit, so I’ll miss it, but the video does convey what a spring visit there feels like. (I preferred to watch it with the sound music turned off though!)

I hope that you enjoy a little look around these gardens while you’re staying home. Stay safe!

Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

26 thoughts on “Stay Home Spring: Virtual Garden Tours”

  1. Love how you’ve brought out the colour of that hellebore so beautifully Ann. The links are a great idea and when I get a chance I’m especially keen to follow the Isle of Man link. Thanks!

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      2. Yes, I really liked that garden too – but they must get some really rough weather and it has been washed away by the sea several times. Shows what determination they have that they re-build it rather than giving up!

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  3. These are some great sites. I think working at the Kew Gardens is definitely on my dream jobs list! Beth Chattos Gardens reminds me some of the Harry P Leu Gardens in Orlando. Nice to have one fairly close by to visit. The best orchids I have ever seen are at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens on the Big Island – they have a huge variety and are gorgeous! Thanks for sharing the links.

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    1. I would have loved to work at the RBG in Edinburgh – used to spend a lot of time there. I hope that there will be chances to visit gardens later in the summer. Meanwhile the videos will have to do!

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    2. How fab is that hellebore? I will have to postpone but earmark the virtual tours until I have a minute to enjoy them. The day job is very challenging 5 days a week at my kitchen table with most of the stuff I need out of bounds in the office. Hopefully you will be able to get out to garden centres and open days again soon.

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      1. I just planted it and it’s neighbour last year, so this was the first time I’d seen it in flower…much excitement, hehe! Hope you cope without the things you can’t get from your office!

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    1. True – she seemed happy enough to flaunt her frilly skirts with a little bit of encouragement… 🙂 I hope that all our gardens (or window-boxes and pots) will present us with little gifts to keep our spirits up – we need them this year!

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    1. Thank you Ali! I’m really pleased with the plant because I just planted it last year so this is the first year it has flowered…and there’s lots! I’ve fallen in love with hellebores… 🙂

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    1. I think it’s lovely that some of the big gardens have given us a glimpse at a time when we can’t visit! 🙂

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    1. It’s wonderful to get a little look at some of the big gardens – lots that I’ll never get a chance to visit too. This year’s Chelsea Flower Show is to be some sort of online event, so it will be interesting to see how that works out too… 🙂

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