'Such a garden as has not been made before…'

Today, RHS Wisley covers 240 acres, attracts over 1 million visitors per year and relies on a team of almost 200 staff and volunteers to run the garden every day.

In the 1870s, the area of mid-Surrey where Wisley is now was wooded farmland and rough pasture. However, when the land came up for sale in 1878, the industrial chemist and RHS Fellow, George Wilson saw its potential from the beginning.

When he first saw the ‘small farm to be sold at Wisley’, George Wilson recalled that:

“I saw in the old undisturbed oak wood, such vegetation, showing the richness of soil, that, on getting home, I said, “If we get the place I can make such a garden as has not been made before.”

George Wilson bought the land and let out much of the 60 acre site to a local farmer. However, he retained a carefully selected part of the estate and, over the next 20 years, transformed this into a renowned experimental wild garden. This was the beginnings of the wooded Oakwood area of RHS Wisley today – the ‘historic heart of Wisley’ which still has the garden’s most diverse plant collection.

Growing difficult plants successfully

As a scientific gardener, what particularly excited Wilson about the land at Wisley was its exceptionally diverse environment.  He identified no less than eight different soil types, and a spectacularly wide range of light and shade conditions ripe for experimentation.

Wilson added a range of new landscape conditions to this rich habitat including mounds, ponds and ditches. This created the perfect environment in which to experiment with growing ‘difficult plants successfully’.

Wilson had particular success in growing an impressive range of lily species in his garden’s damp woodland environment.

He was one of the first to grow lilies in the open air rather than in glasshouses, becoming one of the most important lily growers of the 19^th century – or the ‘Lily King’ as he was known in some circles.

A Wild Garden

Wilson’s experimental landscape at Wisley was also a reaction against the formal ornamental gardens of his predecessors. When he was a young man in the 1840s, geometrical flowerbeds and exotic plants had dominated contemporary garden design.

Wilson’s Wisley was part of the rise of William Robinson’s ‘wild garden’ movement in the 1870s, which encouraged a more naturalistic approach to planting and allowing plants to look after themselves. However, it was also a ‘wild garden’ in a more literal sense, in that to some observers it looked rather wild and unkempt.

Wilson's wild garden followed an informal planting scheme and avoided straight paths. He also let plants seed themselves naturally. One visitor noted that ‘seedlings are springing up in all directions, and one is almost afraid to step lest some precious gem may be crushed.’

Wilson’s meandering woodland paths are still visible in the Oakwood area of RHS Wisley today.

• Image: Aerial shot of the Oakwood area of RHS Wisley. Credit: RHS / Chris Gorman / Big Ladder.

Wilson’s water gardening

George Wilson was a pioneer in the field of water gardening. Before he bought the Wisley estate, he had devised the ‘Wilson raft’. This ingenious contraption was carefully weighted so that it was submerged two inches under water.  It allowed even the smallest gardens to experiment with bog gardening.

At Wisley, Wilson created the Long Ponds, growing bog plants and gunnera which are still visible along their banks today. He also tested exotic aquatic plants, including hybrid water lilies which had only recently been introduced from the renowned Latour-Marliac Nursery in France.

Wilson had particular success finding the right growing conditions for Japanese Irises, showing just how well they grew beside water – something which had long eluded earlier gardeners.

The Long Ponds with Iris growing alongside at RHS Wisley today.

• Credit: RHS / Jason Ingram

Wilson’s garden visitors

The beauty and renown of George Wilson’s Wisley garden attracted famous and influential figures from all over the country.

Visitors included the pioneering botanical artist, Marianne North, the suffragette, Constance Lytton and the naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace. The architect, Edwin Lutyens, who worked closely with Gertrude Jekyll in the design of many Arts and Crafts properties, visited in 1902.

Many influential gardeners visited Wilson’s Wisley including Ellen Willmott, E.A. Bowles and the pioneer of ‘wild gardens’ himself, William Robinson.

In 1884, the famous garden designer Gertrude Jekyll visited and even worked alongside Wilson in the garden.

She later wrote that ‘Mr Wilson was kind enough to let me come and do actual spade work with him.’

A Gift to the RHS

Before Wisley, the RHS had owned two major gardens – an ornamental garden at Kensington (until 1880) and its pioneering experimental garden at Chiswick.

However, when George Wilson died in 1902, the RHS was urgently searching for a new location for its Chiswick garden, looking to escape the polluted atmosphere of London. The Society was keen to purchase Mr Wilson’s Wisley as soon as it came onto the market. Initially though, it was unclear where it would find the money.

Then, a year after Wilson's death, a wealthy supporter of the RHS came to the rescue.

Sir Thomas Hanbury was a prosperous silk merchant and creator of the famous botanical garden at La Mortola in Italy. He bought Wilson’s garden and its surrounding land and presented it to the Royal Horticultural Society. This was just in time for the centenary of the RHS in 1904 and the opening of their new London exhibition halls at Vincent Square.

The Historic Heart of Wisley

Mr Wilson’s Wisley made up only a small portion of what is now RHS Garden Wisley. Over the past one hundred years, the RHS has substantially expanded the original garden with entirely new landscapes such as the Pinetum and the Rock Garden. However, the RHS has kept the scientific spirit of George Wilson alive, continuing to trial plants in different conditions with the RHS Plant Trials. The RHS School of Horticulture and RHS Hilltop, also continue Wilson’s commitment to scientific gardening and practical learning.

The area that has changed least since Wilson’s time are the Long Ponds and the adjoining Oakwood woodland. As far as possible, these have been kept the way that Wilson left them, with even the bridge being re-made in the same design. Today, Mr Wilson’s Wisley remains the historic heart of RHS Wisley, to be explored and enjoyed by visitors of all ages.